One of the great historians of the 19th century was the Swiss Protestant minister Jean-Henri Merle D'Aubigné, who authored a History of the Reformation of the Sixteenth Century originally in five volumes and a History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin originally in eight volumes, as well as other works. These Histories became D'Aubigné's magnum opus.
In America, the family of Robert Baird and his sons Charles and Henry Baird all took a great interest in the history of the Huguenots, publishing multiple studies of the French and Swiss Reformations. In 1843, Robert Baird wrote a biographical sketch of D'Aubigné, introducing his writings to the American public. Many of D'Aubigné's essays were later translated into English from the original French by Charles Washington Baird in 1846. (At least one was translated by Thomas Smith Grimké, uncle of Francis James Grimké, author of a forthcoming book by Log College Press.)
More recently, in 2001, Sprinkle Publications in Harrisonburg, Virginia, has republished the Histories of D'Aubigné in multiple volumes. The first volume of the Sprinkle edition includes Robert Baird's Life of D'Aubigné, as well as the essays of D'Aubigné translated by Charles Baird. Thus, the biographical sketch and translation work of the Bairds has done much to introduce Americans of the 19th to the 21st centuries to this great Swiss pastor and historian.
Samuel Leslie Morris' Works on Home Missions and Presbyterianism
Samuel Leslie Morris was born on December 25, 1854, in Calhoun Falls, Abbeville County, South Carolina. He came from robust Scotch-Irish stock that were committed Presbyterians. After graduating from Erskine College at the age of 18, he entered Columbia Theological Seminary. He pastored churches in Walhalla, South Carolina; Macon, Georgia; and Atlanta, Georgia. His first call in Walhalla was for an annual salary of $300. Two small country churches promised another $300, and he wrote, "I now had an income of $600 a year -- not equal to that of Vanderbilt or Astor; but it gave me the temerity to take unto myself a wife. As one of my church officers had borrowed all of my 'savings,' something less than $100, I went to the town bank and secured a small loan to buy a wedding suit and bring home my bride. I was accordingly formally married October 23, 1877, to Ella M. Brice, only child of Christopher S. Brice, Sr., of New Hope Associate Reformed Presbyterian congregation near Woodward, S.C." (quoted here).
Morris is best known, however, for his work as Secretary of Home Missions for the Southern Presbyterian Church. He wrote several books on the mission effort of the Presbyterian Church to America, including At Our Own Door, The Task that Challenges, and Christianizing Christendom (find these works here). These volumes provide an insightful look at the state of the missionary heart of Presbyterians, as well as the vision and strategies they employed at the beginning of the 20th century. Morris also wrote a well-known book that could easily have been used as a text for Inquirers' Classes, Presbyterianism: Its Principles and Practice. The table of contents is as follows:
1. Presbyterianism - A System
2. Presbyterianism in History
3. Presbyterianism and Calvinism
4. Presbyterianism and Church Polity
5. Presbyterianism and the Sacraments (the Lord's Supper)
6. Presbyterianism and the Sacraments (Baptism)
7. Presbyterianism and the Covenant (Infant Church Membership)
8. Presbyterianism in Action
9. Presbyterianism and Catholicity
10. Presbyterianism and Missions
Spend some time perusing Morris' works, and be instructed and spurred on in your heart for the gospel going forth to the lost through the church of Jesus Christ.
John Thomson on What it Means to Remember the Sabbath Day
John Thomson (1690-1753) was an important early Irish-American Presbyterian minister who served as a missionary in Virginia and North Carolina. He was the primary author of the 1729 Adopting Act. His commentary on the Westminster Shorter Catechism was the first Presbyterian book ever published in the Southern United States (in Williamsburg, Virginia).
In this commentary, Thomson includes an extended discussion of what it means to remember the Sabbath Day, which itself is worth remembering today.
John Thomson, An Explication of the Shorter Catechism, Composed by the Assembly of Divines (1749), pp. 116-117 on WSC #60 ("How is the Sabbath to be sanctified?"):
Q. 8. What is imported in remembering the Sabbath Day?
A. It imports a remembering of God's Command to keep it.
Q. 9. When should we remember it?
A. We should remember it before it comes, when it is come, and after it is past.
Q. 10. How should we remember it before it comes?
A. By preparing our Hearts for it, and the Duties of it; and by a prudent ordering all our worldly Affairs, so as they may least hinder or distract us in our Sabbath's Work when it comes. Neh. 13.19, 21.
Q. 11. How should we remember the Sabbath when it comes?
A. By a diligent, sincere and serious addressing ourselves to the successive Performance of all the Duties of the Day in Season and due Order; and a watchful guarding against every Thing that may hinder, interrupt or distract us in or from these Duties. Isai. 58.13.
Q. 12. How should we remember the Sabbath after it is past?
A. By serious Meditation on these Subjects which we were employ'd about during the Sabbath; and by a penitent Reflection on our short-comings, together with a sincere Resolution to be more watchful and punctual in sanctifying succeeding Sabbaths.
John L. Girardeau Entered Glory
It was on June 23, 1898, that John Lafayette Girardeau entered Paradise. He had recently suffered a stroke, but his passing was peaceful. After a life spent as a husband, father, pastor, theologian, professor, chaplain, philosopher and poet, including many years of service to the black community, he completed his task on earth and went on to receive his heavenly reward.
After his death, an anonymous poem was published in the July 14, 1898 issue of The Southern Presbyterian, a tribute to the man who wrote his own poems on "Life" and "Death."
ON THE DEATH OF A BELOVED MINISTER.
Affectionaly dedicated to the family of Rev. J.L. Girardeau.
Brother, all thy toils are ended;
All thine earthly warfare's done;
To thy long-sought rest ascended,
Thou has won thy starry crown!
There the welcome plaudit met thee;
Well-done Servant of thy Lord,
Faithful toiler in My vineyard,
Enter on thy full reward!
Thou was faithful with the talents
I committed to thy care,
And each burden laid upon thee,
Gladly for Me thou didst bear.
Now beside the 'living waters,'
In my greenest pastures rest;
And forget thine early sorrows,
Leaning on My loving breast!
Oh! methinks the holy angels
Never had a dearer care,
Than that ransomed soul to glory,
On their shining wings to bear!
Hark! the golden harps of Heaven,
Quiver with a richer strain,
As that voice with holy rapture
Blendeth in the glad refrain!
While on earth, Redemption's story,
Ever dwelt upon his tongue.
And to him the 'Songs of Jesus'
Were the sweetest ever sung.
Now the loved ones led to Heaven,
By his earnest pleadings here,
Join with him to praise the Saviour,
Who redeemed and brought them there.
Archibald Stobo, Presbyterian Pioneer
The name of Francis Makemie is well-known to readers of this site as "the Father of American Presbyterianism," and the historical record shows that he was influential in establishing the first presbytery in America, the Presbytery of Philadelphia, in 1705-1706.
The Hanover Presbytery, established in Virginia in 1755, is often thought by some to have been the first presbytery established in the Southern United States. However, an earlier presbytery was established in South Carolina, not connected to the northern branches of the American Presbyterian Church, in 1722-1723. Presbyteries consist of more than one man, but in this case, the man who was most influential in its founding, Archibald Stobo (d. 1741) is worthy of special mention here.
He was born in Scotland in the 1670's, and graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1697. As it happened, a plan for a Scottish colony in Panama at the Isthmus of Darien was developing, and ministers were needed for the colony, which was known as Caledonia. The first wave of ministers and settlers arrived there in 1698. Stobo, along with Alexander Shields and Francis Borland, was part of the second re-supply expedition, which arrived in 1699. While serving there, "Three of these ministers, Alexander Shields, Francis Boreland and Archibald Stobo, instituted the Presbytery of Caledonia, the first presbytery in the New World" (Jacob Harris Patton, A Popular History of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, p. 89). "The first Presbytery organized on this continent was 'The Presbytery of Caledonia.'" (Benjamin L. Agnew, "When Was the First Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America Organized?").
He came with his family, and the expectation was that the second group of ministers would stay for a full year. However, Stobo's wife encouraged him to return home early, and so he was granted leave, and began the return voyage home on the ship, Rising Sun, in September, 1700. Stobo and his family and a few others disembarked after Stobo was requested to preach in town. That very night a hurricane of incredible intensity hit Charleston and sank the Rising Sun with over one hundred souls on board, none of whom survived. The story of that dramatic event is told in much more detail by George Howe, History of the Presbyterian Church in South Carolina, Vol. 1, pp. 141-142; and Howe, The Early Presbyterian Immigration Into South Carolina, pp. 36-37. In time, Stobo made the decision to remain in South Carolina and forgo returning to Scotland altogether. He became the pastor of the church in Charleston that was "called at various times the Presbyterian, Independent, White Meeting [on account of the color of the building], and Circular Church [on account of the building's shape and design]...the 'Mixed Presbyterian and Independent Church'" (Daniel W. Hollis & Carl Julien, Look to the Rock: One Hundred Ante-bellum Presbyterian Churches of the South, p. 4). (This church today is known as the Circular Congregational Church. In Strobo's day, the congregation consisted of a mix of Presbyterians, Congregationalists and French Huguenots of Presbyterian conviction.)
"After serving this church for four years, he turned his attention to Protestant Dissenters in the countryside who were particularly strong in the region that stretched southwest of the Stono River to the Combahee. For the next thirty-seven years he was a tireless pastor among these people, establishing churches at Wilton Bluff at Adam's Run on the lower Edisto River, at Pon Pon further upriver, at James Island, and northwest of Charlestown, at Cainhoy among the New Englanders who settled there" (Erskine Clarke, Our Southern Zion, p. 43).
Stobo was "a man of decided character, and an uncompromising Presbyterian" (Ernest Trice Thompson, Presbyterians in the South, Vol. 1, p. 32). In 1706, he and 46 members of his congregation signed a covenant binding them to be "a Presbyterian congregation for ever in church discipline, doctrine and government, as set down in the Old Testament. That christnings, marriages and burials shall be among themselves, that their ministers shall come from Scotland, such as he, Mr. Stobo can comply with, that upon Sabbath days they shan't go to other places but the meeting or must meet among themselves rather than by gadding abroad for strengthening others vice and giving offence to one another" (Letter of Le Jau to Mr. Stubbs, dated April 15, 1707, cited in Charles Augustus Briggs, American Presbyterianism: Its Origin and Early History, p. lxvii). It was in 1722-1723 that the efforts of Stobo to unite the various local Presbyterian churches, many of which he planted, bore special fruit with the founding a presbytery (sometimes referred to as the Charles Towne Presbytery, at other times as the Presbytery of James Island). This was the first presbytery established in the Southern United States.
Thus, Stobo participated in the founding of the first presbytery in the New World (the Presbytery of Caledonia, in Panama, in 1699-1700; and the first presbytery in the Southern United States (Charles Towne Presbytery, or the Presbytery of James Island, in 1722-1723), and is a Presbyterian worthy to be remembered.
A Catechism on Praise
Alexander Cameron Blaikie (1804-1885) was the author of a catechism on church government and a catechism on praise in worship. The latter work was originally published in 1849. It is now available to read at Log College Press here.
The Associate Church minister James Patterson Miller, as he was preparing to leave New York on a missionary assignment to Oregon, where he would die tragically in an explosion, once wrote, "I make it a text-book in my Bible classes. As I intend to leave New York, in October 1850, for Oregon, please send me 200 copies for distribution in that territory."
This catechism on praise in worship was republished by the James Begg Society in 2003. It has stood the test of time because it is a concise summary of the principles of historic Presbyterian worship. Take time to download it for further study, and consider what this 19th century Presbyterian minister had to say about the proper principles for Biblical praise in worship.
Charles Hodge Entered Glory
It was on June 19, 1878, at the age of 80, that Charles Hodge, the great principal and professor at Princeton Theological Seminary, entered into glory. This writer was privileged to stand at his grave today (June 19, 2018), 140 years later, on the anniversary of his passing.
His son, A.A. Hodge, closed the biography he wrote of his father's life with a poem by Anson Davies Fitz Randolph, which comes to mind now:
CHARLES HODGE, OF PRINCETON.
A Prince, wise, valiant, just, and yet benign;
His own will free, and still by law controlled:
No King, with armaments and fleets untold,
Such mastery had with purpose so divine,
O'er unseen forces active and malign.
He fought th' invisible spirits of the air,
Nor for himself alone, but for his race,
And men grew wiser, better, unaware
That he in silence, by his faith and prayer
Saved their beleaguered souls. Spirit of Grace
Who in him wrought, and held him in the strife.
We give Thee thanks that Thou didst him ordain
Unto a work wherein no act is vain.
And death but longer makes the service and the life.
A. D. F. R
The Creed of Presbyterians
Egbert Watson Smith (1862-1944) was a distinguished graduate of Davidson College (1882) and Union Theological Seminary (Richmond, Virginia, 1886), who went on serve as pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Greensboro, North Carolina, and the Second Presbyterian Church of Louisville, Kentucky, was also noted for his love for foreign missions. In 1911, he became executive secretary of Foreign Missions for the Presbyterian Church in the United States, in Nashville, Tennessee, where he labored and authored works in support of missions and missionaries around the world. Even after he retired from that position in 1932, he took on the newly created position of field secretary of foreign missions. He served as one of the most active and able advocates of missionary activities in the American Presbyterian church.
As a confessional Presbyterian, he also wrote in defense of the Westminster Standards, the creedal position of the Presbyterian Church. His 1901 volume on The Creed of Presbyterians is remarkable because it makes the point that the Westminster Confession of Faith, and Larger and Shorter Catechisms, are simply put, a summary of essential truths that evangelical, Protestant Christians agree are taught from Scripture. They are not uniquely Presbyterian in a sectarian sense, but Catholic in nature. They affirm the principle of one true Church, in all its branches, to be the body and kingdom of Christ on earth. Smith has written this work for laymen, and it serves as a good introduction to what Protestants believe concerning the sovereignty of God, the authority of Scripture, and the value of having a summary of these things to unite believers in the truth, all of which serve as a great motivation for the spread of the gospel.
This is a book that 21st century Christians will appreciate, as the depth and breadth of the author's humility and charity shine through as an example of how confessional Presbyterians may serve the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ with those two particular attributes, which is as much needed today as it was over a century ago. Take time to download and peruse The Creed of Presbyterians, which is a wonderful contribution to the whole church of Jesus Christ.
William Plumer on the Sabbath Day
Have you ever considered the irony that many who plant Ten Commandment signs in their front yards today reject the fourth commandment as binding upon Christians under the new covenant? As you rejoice in this Lord's Day, be encouraged by the challenging, persuasive, and promissory words of William Swan Plumer:
"He, who loves God's word and worship, he, who delights in prayer and praise, loves the day devoted to the study of Scripture, and the service of Jehovah. Among the thousands of religious biographies now before the world, is there one which shows that any heart loved the other precepts of the Decalogue and disregarded this?
It is generally agreed that Christ came to enlarge, not to curtail the privileges of his people, and especially of the poor and afflicted, many of whom are not the masters of their own time. But if he abolished the Sabbath, he cut off the pious poor from one of their dearest privileges, one no less necessary to relieve their heavy hearts than to refresh their toil-worn bodies.
The Scriptures contain many precious promises to those who reverently keep this day, and take pleasure in its appropriate duties. Isa. 56:1-7, and 58:14; Jer. 17:21-26. To such God will give, in his house and within his walls, a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters. He will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off. He will make them joyful in his house of prayer, and will accept all their sacrifices; and blessings like those which came upon Jacob shall fall upon them." -- The Law of God, page 299
Do You Have These American Presbyterian General Assembly Digests?
The General Assemblies of the Presbyterian Church in America and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church were held this week. At some point in the near future the minutes of these assemblies will be approved, and then in the more distant future a digest of these minutes, and the minutes of other years' assemblies, will be compiled for historical record and easy reference. Digests are a great blessing for the historian and the church government wonk, and some are available on the Log College Press website.
Several Digests were published in the first half of the 19th century, but Samuel Baird's Digest (published in 1856) is the most well known. It covers all the way back to the beginning of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. Digests were also published in 1859, 1861, 1873, 1886, 1898, and 1907. None of these are currently on our site. We do have the 1923 Digest compiled by Lewis Seymour Mudge for the Northern Presbyterian Church, as well as W. A. Alexander's Digest of the Presbyterian Church in the United States (the Southern Presbyterian Church) in 1888, covering the years 1861-1888.
These books will not be interesting even to all who love Presbyterianism, or even all who love General Assembly. But for the handful of individuals who enjoy reading Assembly minutes, we hope you find access to these documents useful.
19th-20th Century Black Presbyterians
Yesterday, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) elected its first African-American Moderator, Dr. Irwyn Ince (who, coincidentally, also wrote the Foreword to our upcoming book, Meditations on Preaching, by Francis Grimke - available for Pre-Order on Amazon here!). In his Moderator's Address, Dr. Ince mentioned the impact that discovering African-American Presbyterian fathers in the faith had on his spiritual development and his love for the PCA. How easy it is to be unaware, or forget, that there have been Black Presbyterian pastors from the earliest days of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America! Many of these fathers and their published works are on the Log College Press website:
Matthew Anderson
Titus Basfield
William Thomas Catto
John Chavis
John Gloucester
Henry Highland Garnet
Francis James Grimke
James William Charles Pennington
William Henry Sheppard
Theodore Sedgwick Wright
We don't have all the published works of these men on our site yet, so if you know of some books or sermons or articles that we can upload to our site, please contact us! Likewise, let us know of other African-American Presbyterians from the 18th through the early 20th centuries, so we can put them on our website as well. God has been at work through the history of our country, even through long seasons of pain and oppression, to build His church (even the Presbyterian church) from all ethnicities. May He continue to do as He writes our history in this generation.
A Look Back at the Year 1572
Church history matters. As William Pratt Breed put it, "Ecclesiastical history is the record of the outworking of God's decree for the world's renovation. It is the complicated story of the progress of the truth, its assaults upon error, the resistance of error to these assaults, and the results, in the life and experience of men and nations, of these onsets and oppositions — results many of them cheering and glorious, some of them fearful and bloody. Full of food for the head and the heart is such a story!"
In 1872, he published a book which looked back at the state of Presbyterianism three hundred years previous: Presbyterianism Three Hundred Years Ago. In fact, 1572 was a momentous year in church history. It was the year that the first English presbytery was formed, the year that the Huguenots of France were massacred on St. Bartholomew's Day, the year that John Knox entered glory. In this book, Breed paints a picture, sketching where the Protestant church stood in Europe in that eventful year. The tales he tells ought to enlighten and inspire Presbyterians, not only of the 19th, but indeed the 21st, century.
"Thus was it with Presbyterianism three hundred years ago, and well were it for us all were we more familiar with the thrilling, bleeding, glorious tale. Well were it for our Church could our youthful Presbyterians be induced to fill their minds with the records of those days that so sorely tried men's souls, with the true character and history of our glorious Presbyterianism, with the heroism to which it gave birth, the heroes that glorify its progress and the services it has rendered the world....How instructive, too, and in many respects how cheering, is the contrast between those days and ours! Over all the round world, almost, no hindrance to the free propagation of the unsearchable riches of Christ."
How does all this relate to American Presbyterianism? By 1572, because of the missionary vision of Admiral Coligny, two Protestant (Huguenot) colonies had already been planted on American soil. But beyond this, it is worthwhile to consider how we as Christians, as Presbyterians, got where we are today. What challenges did our spiritual ancestors face, and how did they, by the grace of God, overcome them? In the words of Michael Crichton, "If you don't know history, you don't know anything. You are a leaf that doesn't know it is part of a tree." William Breed's book is a helpful look back so that we may better understand the present, and be encouraged about the future.
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).
Love is the Best Casuist
Casuistry - what is it? Simply put, it is the application of moral principles to practical situations. These are sometimes referred to as "cases of conscience." Yet, hear what Robert Lewis Dabney has to say about the benefit of private godly conference being the more proper place for such cases of conscience to be addressed, rather than the pulpit.
"I do not conceive that much of casuistry should he introduced into practical sermons. This belongs rather to the pastor's study than to the desk. The minute distinctions by which nice cases are to be adjusted, if they be addressed to a promiscuous company of persons not vitally interested in the particular problem, will be surely misunderstood by many. Thus they will minister to the morbid scruples of some consciences and to the license of others. And even in our private instructions love is the best casuist. Let the great principles of gospel love be presented with a breadth and warmth which, instead of dissecting, will dissipate the doubt." -- Sacred Rhetoric; Or, A Course of Lectures on Preaching, p. 63.
Jure Divino Presbyterianism
"The Southern Presbyterian Church was committed from its initial organization in 1861 to a theory of the church advanced by Thomas Cartwright in England in the latter part of the 16th century, embodied in the Scottish Second Book of Discipline (1581) and championed by James Henley Thornwell and other Southern Presbyterian divines as over against Charles Hodge of Princeton in the 1850's." -- Ernest Trice Thompson, Presbyterians in the South, Vol. 2: 1861-1890, p. 414.
As Thompson goes on to relate, John Lafayette Girardeau summed up the Southern Presbyterian position well, historically known as jure divino Presbyterianism, or divine right Presbyterianism, as he laid it out in a sermon before the General Assembly of 1875:
"There are two supreme obligations which this final charge of the Lord Jesus lays upon the heart of the church. The first is the transcendent duty of universal evangelization. The second is the inculcation and maintenance of the truth which Christ, the prophet of the church, has taught, and the commands which Christ, the king of the church, has enjoined. The call of the gospel is to be addressed to all the sons of men, and when they accept it, and are gathered into the fold of the church, she is to teach them all things whatsoever Christ has commanded. There are obviously a positive and a negative aspect of this charge to the church, — positive, in that she is directed to teach all that Christ has commanded; negative, in that she is implicitly prohibited from teaching anything which He has not commanded. The negative duty is a necessary inference from the command which enforces the positive. Here, then, we have the principle tinctured with the blood of our Puritan, Covenanter and Huguenot forefathers — that what is not commanded, either explicitly or implicitly in the Scriptures, is prohibited to the church. She can utter no new doctrine, make no new laws, ordain no new forms of government, and invent no new modes of worship. This is but a statement of a fundamental principle of Protestantism, contra-distinguishing it from Rationalism on the one hand and Romanism on the other, — that the Scriptures, as the word of Christ, are the complete and ultimate rule of faith and duty. They are complete, since they furnish as perfect a provision for the spiritual, as does nature for the physical, wants of man, and, therefore, exclude every other rule as unnecessary and superfluous. They are ultimate because, being the word of God, they must pronounce infallibly and supremely upon all questions relating to religious faith and practice. The duty of the church, consequently, to conform herself strictly to the divine word, and her guilt and danger in departing from it would seem to be transparently evident. But the clearest principles, through the blindness, fallibility, and perverseness of the human mind, frequently prove inoperative in actual experience; and the history of the church furnishes lamentable proof that the great, regulative truth of the completeness and supremacy of the Scriptures constitutes no exception to this remark. Because we are Protestants, and Presbyterian Protestants, because the doctrine of the perfection and ultimate authority of the word lies at the root of our system and is embodied in our standards, we are not, therefore, free from the peril attending the failure of the church to conform herself in all things to the revealed will of Christ, and her tendency to rely upon her own folly instead of His wisdom" ("The Discretionary Power of the Church," Sermons, p. 370-371).
Testimony of God's Grace in the Life and "Religious Experiences" of Archibald Alexander
Richard McIlwaine, like Archibald Alexander, served as president of Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia, from 1883-1904. In McIlwaine's autobiography, Memories of Three Score Years and Ten (pp. 112-115), he relates a story that is both a testimony to the grace of God in Alexander's life and writings, and an encouragement to us all to remember that one's legacy lives on after death, and that the seeds we plant for God's kingdom will bear fruit in his good time, no matter how long that may take.
"Dr. Archibald Alexander died in the fall of 1851. He had been President of Hampden-Sidney College from 1796 to 1807, was closely connected with Rev. Dr. John H. Rice and was brother-in-law to Rev. Dr. Benjamin H. Rice. A memorial service, held in the Seminary Chapel, was largely attended by the students of both institutions and by the people of the neighborhood. In my youth I knew many ministers who were prepared for their work under his hand, and from them heard a great deal of him. At college I studied his little work on Moral Science, and later read his interesting books on the Evidences of Christianity and on Religious Experience and his Biography by his son, Rev. James W. Alexander, D.D. I early formed the opinion that, all things considered, his life was the greatest blessing ever conferred on the Presbyterian Church in America and to-day, after wide observation, acquaintance, and experience, I see no reason to doubt the correctness of this judgment. In support of this opinion, I beg to narrate the fol- lowing incident:
In December, 1858, I became pastor of the Amelia Presbyterian Church. In the course of pastoral duty I came into touch with a family of excellent social position, consisting of an old gentleman, a widower and not a professing Christian; a widowed sister, and a niece, both intelligent Christian women, with the lovely, gentle manners characteristic of the women of that day. The brother and sister were both aged and the niece advanced in years. They were in comfortable circumstances, possessed of a good residence and farm, plenty of servants, carriage and horses and ample means. I was told that the old gentleman had been a wicked man, a disciple of Tom Paine and along with a coterie of like spirits from Amelia and the adjoining counties of Nottoway and Powhatan, would assemble on Saturdays at a point in the upper part of Amelia, which they named Paineville, for a day of carousal and profanity. In due time I called, was invited into the parlor, where the gentle-mannered Christian women soon joined me and gave me a hearty greeting. After a time, perhaps half an hour, the door opened and in walked the old gentleman, the embodiment of the best external features of an old time Virginia gentleman; tall, erect, broad-shouldered, snowy-white hair, an intelligent, benevolent countenance; attired in the olden style, — ruffled shirt bosom, blue broadcloth coat with brass buttons, as sumptuously gotten up as if in attendance on an imposing public function. His reception of me was dignified and polite, though at first somewhat restrained with the air of a man of the world, who wants to know you better before he lets himself into your confidence. Presently, however, it came out in conversation that I had been a student of Hampden-Sidney College. This greatly excited his interest and led to the announcement that he also was an alumnus of that institution, having been connected with the College during the administration of Dr. Archibald Alexander, of whom he spoke with warm admiration, and I thought, even with a tinge of affection. After this there was no let-up in the conversation. The ice had been broken and a tie established between us. We were both attached to the College and to the memory of Dr. Alexander. When I arose to say good-bye he took me cordially by the hand, expressed pleasure at having made my acquaintance, and invited me to call when I could.
As I rode home that evening a sense of serious responsibility oppressed me. Here was a man on the verge of eternity. From all accounts he had led a grossly wicked life. So far as I knew, no minister of the gospel had access to him or had ever conferred with him on the subject of his soul's salvation. He never attended church or left his plantation, except on election day when he would go to the polls in his carriage, cast his vote, and return to his home. We were now on such terms that I could approach him. The obligation rested on me. But I was young and inexperienced. He was old and dignified and possibly might be offended and treat such an effort as an intrusion. I thought about it; prayed over it. At last it occurred to me that possibly I might obtain the access I desired through the medium of a book. On going to my book-case, my eye soon discovered a copy of Alexander on "Religious Experience," which I took down and, writing a courteous note of presentation, said, that after he had read the volume, I should be glad, with his permission, to call and converse with him on its subject-matter at any time he might appoint. The volume and note were conveyed to him a few days after from church by his sister, and the next time she met me she said, "Brother ---------- asked me to tell you that he will be glad to see you any time it suits you to call. I do not know what that means, but that is what he said."
I did call in a few days, was received in the old gentleman's chamber, found him attired not in the lordly apparel of the former occasion but in his plain every-day clothes, and after a conversation of an hour, concluded with prayer, left him believing that he was a true penitent and an humble follower of our Lord Jesus Christ. I saw him during the remainder of my brief pastorate in Amelia as often as my exacting duties would permit; and soon after I left, his death occurred. On my first visit to the county some months after his death, I was told that he had fully confessed Christ before men and in view of death spoke of me with affection and regret that I could not be with and minister to him. My present impression is that he was a Christian before I ever saw him, though he had not awaked to the consciousness of it.
It is a curious question, but worthy of thought and one which has frequently arisen in my mind: What is the connection between Dr. Alexander's life and this old gentleman's salvation? About sixty years intervened between their acquaintance at Hampden-Sidney and the time when he found peace in believing. May not Alexander's life, — something he said, something he did, his consistent Christian deportment, — have been instrumental in awakening the still small voice of conscience in that man's soul, which, palsied by a long course of sin, at last asserted itself and became a dominant force in bringing him, a humble, contrite sinner to the foot of the Cross. God knows! Let every Christian be careful so to direct his course in the world that his influence will be felt in winning men to God."
Beware of Digging Ditches
Before the early American Presbyterian worship wars between those who preferred the hymns of Isaac Watts and those who preferred Rous' Psalms (although nicknamed such, the Scottish Psalter of 1650 was in fact far removed from the earlier version by Francis Rous), there was Sternhold & Hopkins' edition of the Psalms of David. In the 19th century, Sternhold & Hopkins, nevertheless, was not forgotten.
In the commentary on the Psalms by William Swan Plumer, he refers to Sternhold & Hopkins twice. One reference is found in his exposition of Psalm 7:15, in which he quotes the metrical version thus:
"Sternhold and Hopkins have given a version of this and the next verse, which has attracted attention.
He digs a ditch and delves it deep,
In hope to hurt his brother;
But he shall fall into the pit
That he digged up for other.
Thus wrong returneth to the hurt
of him in whom it bred;
And all the mischief that he wrought,
Shall fall upon his head."
Rev. Plumer had occasion to quote this verse at the 1874 General Assembly of the Southern Presbyterian Church, which was dealing with a controversy at Columbia Theological Seminary, which had enacted a rule requiring faculty and students to attend chapel services on the Lord's Day morning (which, according to Richard McIlwaine, later president of Hampden Sydney College, obstructed professors supplying other pulpits and students desiring to hear other ministers preach). The following was recorded by McIlwaine in his autobiography, Memories of Three Score Years and Ten, pp. 312-313:
"This seems to show that the root of contention was a personal disagreement in the Faculty, and to justify the story narrated to me by Rev. Dr. A.P. Smith, then of Mississippi, but afterwards, for a quarter of a century or more, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Dallas, Tex. He was a most companionable man, full of life and spirit and bubbling over with good humor. He said that on the adjournment of the session of the Assembly at which these resignations were accepted, he walked out of the house with Dr. Plumer, who took his arm and as they got out of the crowd, asked, 'Do you remember Sternhold and Hopkins' version of such and such a palm?' and on his reply, 'No,' the doctor repeated a verse, as follows:
'He digged a pit, he digged it well,
He digged it for his brudder,
Into that selfsame pit he fell,
Himself and not anudder.'
This narration impresses the fact that we are all liable to err and do err..."
Even servants of Christ, who desire to do right, as McIlwaine acknowledged of those with whom he disagreed on the issue at Columbia Theological Seminary, may yet dig ditches for others into which they themselves fall. May God grant that we be not blind leaders of the blind, leading ourselves and others into ditches. But rather, may we stick close to the light of God's Word, and build bridges over snares rather than dig ditches that are snares.
George Burrowes on the Song of Solomon
One of the best 19th century American commentaries written on the Song of Solomon is that by George Burrowes (1811-1894). Previously, he had published an article on the SoS, which appeared in an 1849 issue of The Biblical Repertory and Princeton Review.
In that article he sets forth the high and majestic place the SoS has within the scope of God's Word:
"The gospels furnish the life of God manifest in flesh; the epistle to the Hebrews opens the doctrine of atonement as vicarious and possessing infinite value from the divine nature of Him who suffered; Proverbs embody the practical duties of daily life; the Psalms are the pious heart's language of devotion, the song is its language of love."
As Thomas Hooker once wrote, "The man whose heart is endeared to the woman he loves, he dreams of her in the night, hath her in his eye and apprehension when he awakes, museth on her as he sits at table, walks with her when he travels and parlies with her in each place where he comes."
And so, Burrowes speaks of meditating on this Song, a song of love between Christ and the believer, making a point worthy of consideration for the Christian who thus muses: "We have deemed it more profitable and natural in meditating on this book, to view the bride as the representative of the individual believer rather than of the whole church. As the church is a collection of individuals, its state must be that of the members composing it; and no distinction can be drawn between the love of Jesus for the collective body and his love for the several persons constituting the whole mass."
Moving from the 1849 article to the 1853 commentary, Burrowes sets forth his goal therein: "In the exposition, the aim has been to unfold the truth, in the way supposed the most desirable to a soul animated with fervent love for the Lord Jesus, and craving the hidden manna which the Holy Spirit has lodged in this precious portion of the Scriptures. The heart hungering and thirsting for righteousness, does not rest satisfied with the stalk and husks, but is anxious for the luscious kernel, of these fruits of eternal life. As here viewed, the Song is a continuous and coherent whole, illustrating some of the most exalted and delightful exercises of the believing heart" (pp. 7-8).
Burrowes has read the wide spectrum of commentators and their opinions about the SoS. In the introduction, he makes the case that the Song is an allegory representing Christ and the believer: "It is an allegorical illustration of the operations of love in the bosom of the saint and of the Redeemer” (p. 32).
The expressions of spiritual longing and delight found in this remarkable Song are in these works studied and mused upon by a gifted scholar, who very clearly understands the language of love. Thus, "When we are anxious to hear from the lips of Jesus the fulness of his love to us, here do we rejoice to sit and listen" (p. 24). Let Burrowes be your guide, dear Christian, as you take up this precious Song, in your study, meditation, and delight, to the glory of our Redeemer.
The Presbyterian's Hand-Book of the Church
In 1861, the Rev. Joel Parker (1799-1873) collaborated with the Rev. Thomas Ralston Smith (1830-1903) to publish The Presbyterian's Hand-Book of the Church: For the Use of Members, Deacons, Elders, and Ministers. It is a valuable contribution to the church, useful even today.
Overall, it is a guide to explain what Presbyterianism is, how Presbyterian congregations are planted, what duties are expected of church members, how families should strive to live, what are the duties and responsibilities of church officers, and what might be expected in church worship services.
In particular, there are specific features of this handbook or manual that stand out:
The guidance given on how churches planted is basic, but nevertheless, rare and appreciated;
There is encouragement to build a congregational library, for the benefit of all;
Specific recommendations are made for the building of a pastoral library;
Recommended prayers for the use of families and ministers are provided;
Encouragement is given to parents and pastors to catechize children, using both the Westminster Shorter Catechism, and Joel Parker's three-part Initiatory Catechism;
Much practical application is offered for church officers to perform their duties efficiently and wisely, with an emphasis on the importance of pastoral visitation, congregational harmony, and a spirit of prayerfulness, and;
There is an overarching theme that the business of the church and the household is primarily aimed at the glory of God, the service and expansion of his kingdom, the saving of souls, and the love of the saints.
The practical wisdom brought to bear upon 19th-century readers is equally of value to 21st-century readers, whether you are a church member or a church officer. Download this work today, and take time to work through it. It will be a benefit to your soul.
How Can We Glorify God at All Times?
James Harper (1823-1913), in his Exposition in the Form of Question and Answer of the Westminster Assembly's Shorter Catechism (1905), regarding the first question and answer of the Shorter Catechism concerning man's chief end, asks the follow-up question, one that has perhaps arisen in the minds of many sincere Christians:
"Q. 24. In order to glorify God must we be always definitely thinking of Him?
No. But the habit of our minds must be to turn with reverence and pleasure to God. As the needle to the pole, our hearts must be attracted to Him. I Cor. 10:31.*
He goes on to say this:
"Some worthy people have been perplexed about the direction given in i Cor. 10:31: 'Whether, therefore, ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.' Supposing this to mean that in all our acts we must have conscious reference to God, they have felt that either the precept is unreasonable, or that they must be destitute of true spirituality.
Touching this difficulty it may suffice to remark:
1. That the injunction in question requires that we have the thought of God consciously very often present in our minds;
2. That, therefore, the habitual attitude of our minds should be toward God;
3. That yet we are not required to be incessantly thinking about God. Our mental constitution forbids this. But a subconscious reference to God is possible and obligatory. A man may be controlled in his conduct by some desire even when the object of desire may be for a time forgotten. For instance, one starts upon a journey to a certain place, and every step he takes is controlled by the desire to reach that place ; and yet his mind meanwhile may be directly occupied with a thousand incidents and scenes which present themselves in the way."