Holiness defined - and encouraged - by Samuel Davies

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Holiness, to which all Christians are called — “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14) — is defined by Samuel Davies succinctly in words that have been quoted by others* writing on the nature of the “practice of piety.”

Preaching on that verse, Davies explains in a sermon titled “The Connection Between Present Holiness and Future Felicity” (Sermons, Vol. 1):

The most intelligible description of holiness, as it is inherent in us, may be this: “It is a conformity in heart and practice to the revealed will of God.” As the Supreme Being is the standard of all perfection, his holiness in particular is the standard of ours. Then we are holy when his image is stamped upon our hearts and reflected in our lives; so the apostle defines it, and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Eph. iv. 24. Whom he did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son. Rom. viii. 29. Hence holiness may be defined, “A conformity to God in his moral perfections.” But as we cannot have a distinct knowledge of these perfections but as they are manifested by the revealed will of God, I choose to define holiness, as above, “A conformity to his revealed will.” Now his revealed will comprises both the law and the gospel; the law informs us of the duty which we as creatures owe to God as a being of supreme excellency, as our Creator and Benefactor, and to men as our fellow-creatures; and the gospel informs us of the duty which we as sinners owe to God as reconcilable through a Mediator. Our obedience to the former implies the whole of morality, and to the latter the whole of evangelical graces, as faith in a Mediator, repentance, &c.

From this definition of holiness it appears, on the one hand, that it is absolutely necessary, to see the Lord; for unless our dispositions are conformed to him, we cannot be happy in the enjoyment of him; and on the other hand, that they who are made thus holy, are prepared for the vision and fruition of his face, as they can relish the divine pleasure.

But as a concise definition of holiness may give an auditory but very imperfect ideas of it, I shall expatiate upon the dispositions and practices in which it consists, or which naturally result from it; …

Even the best, most succinct, definitions require further elucidation, as the rest of Davies’ sermon illustrates (which can be read here). But as it helps to define the topic under consideration, and because this topic is crucial to the Christian life, we do well to start with Davies’ definition in our understanding of what holiness consists. In conformity to God’s revealed will, may his image indeed be stamped upon our hearts and reflected in our lives.

* For example, Charles D. Cashdollar, “The Pursuit of Piety: Charles Hodge's Diary, 1819-1820.” Journal of Presbyterian History (1962-1985), vol. 55, no. 3, 1977, p. 267; Hughes Oliphant Old, The Reading and Preaching of the Scriptures in the Worship of the Christian Church, Vol. 5, p. 163; Elwyn Allen Smith, The Presbyterian Ministry in American Culture: A Study in Changing Concepts, 1700-1900, p. 148.

Addressed to a Student of Divinity: A Poem by Annis Stockton

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One of the first published female poets in America was Annis Boudinot Stockton, daughter of Elias Boudinot IV, wife of Richard Stockton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Her correspondence with and poetic tribute to George Washington is noteworthy, but she wrote poems on many subjects. Today’s post will highlight a poem she is thought to have sent to Princeton student and fellow poet Benjamin Young Prime (1733-1791) around 1757. It may be found, along with all of her known compositions, in Carla Mulford, ed., Only for the Eye of a Friend: The Poems of Annis Boudinot Stockton.

Addressed to a Student of Divinity

How blest the youth whom Genius deigns to guide,
Thro paths of Science to fair wisdoms Seat —
Where virtue and philosophy preside —
And trample error underneath their feet.
Whose Steady mind can from the croud retire —
In Search of truth to turn the historic page —
The rise and fall of empire to admire —
And mark the effect of vice on ev’ry age. —
Whose taste and fancy urge him to the groves —
O’er craggy rocks or mountain steep to climb
Or thro the secret haunts of nature roves —
And deeply meditates on themes sublime.
There taught by reason to controul the will —
And hush the Jarring passions into peace —
Their vast extent and influence to feel —
And how Combin’d with human happiness.
But happies he whom piety Controuls —
To shun a flattering worlds decietful way —
To break the bread of life to hungry souls —
And prompt the path of bliss to those that stray.

Genius and Science polish and refine —
Philosophy and virtue lend their aid —
While truth and wisdom mark the true divine —
Be this the path and this the pattern too —
Then follow on with all your noblest powers —
Nor let your Secret foes your mind subdue —
But to your Saviour dedicate your hours. —

Devotionals for a New Decade

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A good way to start the New Year in 2020 is just the way 19th century American Presbyterians started it - with a yearly devotional. Here are some options available for use at Log College Press:

Other devotional works to take special note of:

  • James Robert Boyd - Daily Communion With God on the Plan Recommended by the Rev. Matthew Henry, V.D.M., For Beginning, Spending, Concluding Each Day With God (1873); and

  • William Henry Fentress - Love Truths From the Bible (1879).

These resources will enrich your 2020 spiritual walk just as they enriched the lives of Christians in centuries past. Blessings to you and yours from Log College Press!

Out with the old, in with the New: Sermons for a New Year

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As 2019 comes to a close, and a new year dawns, we at Log College Press want to thank all of our readers for all of your support in the past year. We are most grateful for your interest, appreciation, feedback and encouragement. It is a joy for us to dust off old Presbyterian works and make them accessible to a new generation, and we, along with our readers, are learning much along the journey as well. As we round out this year and prepare, with the mercy and blessing of God, to enter another, we wish to highlight some special sermons from the past which are worthy of consideration.

  • Henry Augustus Boardman (1808-1880) - Mottoes For the New Year, as Given in Texts of Sermons (1882);

  • George Barrell Cheever (1807-1890) - A New Year’s Sermon (1843);

  • Samuel Davies (1723-1761) - On January 1, 1760, he preached "A New Year's Gift" (see Sermons on Important Subjects, Vol. 3, Serm. 59, pp. 309 ff), using Rom. 13:11 for his text: "And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed." On January 1, 1761 (his last year of life), Davies preached "A Sermon on the New Year" (see Sermons on Important Subjects, Vol. 2, Serm. 34, pp. 139 ff), from Jer. 28:16: "This year thou shalt die";

  • Elias Harrison (1790-1863) - New Year’s Day Sermon (1817);

  • Erskine Mason, Sr. (1805-1851) - The Approach of Death: A New Year’s Sermon (1845) and New Year’s Sermon for 1848: Dependence on the Future (1848);

  • Benjamin Morgan Palmer (1818-1902) - Century Sermon (1901), preached on January 1, 1901; and

  • Gardiner Spring (1785-1873) - Something Must Be Done: A New Year’s Sermon (1816).

Each of these sermons has a message that is good for 21st century readers to consider as we stand at the same point on the calendar between years that Christians have done before. New Year’s is always an appropriate time to review the past and consider our resolve to walk closer with the Lord in the future. We close with this meditation and resolution from Gardiner Spring’s “Reflections on the New Year” in Fragments from the Study of a Pastor (1838):

In entering on another year, I know not from what unexpected quarter, or at what an unguarded hour, difficulties and dangers may come. O that I could enjoy more of the favour of God, more of the presence of the Saviour, more of the sealing of the ever blessed Spirit! O for more of a calm, approving conscience, and more of the delightful influence of the peace-speaking blood of Jesus Christ!

G.M. Giger on Religious Retirement

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The busyness of a 24/7 news cycle, the pressing demands of work, the noise of children and neighbors - and much more - all conspire, it seems, to crowd out the quiet times that are so necessary to spend with God, and to gain peace of mind and enrich our souls. Just as the body needs sleep at periodic intervals, so the soul needs time apart from the cares of the world, even the necessary ones, to commune with God in prayer, to be fed by God’s Word, and to ponder deeply the things most needful to be considered in life.

Christ Himself shows us by example the great importance which we ought to place upon such times apart from the noise and bustle of the world: “And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, He went out and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed” (Mark 1:35).

Preaching from this text, George Musgrave Giger (most famous for translating Francis Turretin’s Institutes of Elenctic Theology) reminds us of the value of Religious Retirement, that is, the need to be alone with God for purposes of prayer, study and meditation. This sermon, published in John T. Duffield’s The Princeton Pulpit (1852), while warning against the opposite extreme of monastic-like separation from the world, emphasizes the following motives to and benefits of such religious retirement.

  • Christ’s own frequent and habitual example;

  • Christ’s precept regarding private worship that “when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly” (Matt. 6:6);

  • God’s creation of day and night, and times of action and stillness;

  • The example of Old Testament saints, such as David and Daniel, who sought out and regularly kept times of private devotion;

  • The example of early Christians who sought sanctuary for prayer away from their persecutors;

  • The cases of John Milton and John Bunyan, for example, whose times of private devotion in the study and in the prison cell led to such rich spiritual writings by which the Church and the world have been blessed;

  • Private devotion, apart from distraction, provides the best means for the study necessary to gain religious knowledge, which is key to our spiritual life and sanctification;

  • Religious retirement provides the opportunity for profitable self-examination, which is needful for correction in life and the amendment of our ways, and necessary for daily confession of sin and repentance before God;

  • Times apart from the world help us to get perspective on the world and its cares by viewing temporal concerns through the light of an eternal lens; and

  • Contemplation of eternal things stirs our affection towards and increases our attachment to heaven.

While the 21st century world encourages a “coming out of the closet,” Giger’s 19th century message to return regularly to the closet for private devotion is a reminder needed more now than ever. We all need such times apart from the cares of this world to commune with our God, and to enrich our souls through prayer and study and meditation. Read his full message here and be encouraged, especially as a new year approaches, to follow the example of Christ and regularly seek out religious retirement.

Archibald Alexander on Christian sympathy

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John Alexander Mackay writes of Archibald Alexander in Hugh T. Kerr, ed., Sons of the Prophets: Leaders in Protestantism from Princeton Seminary, pp. 9-10:

The popular preacher of Pine Street [Philadelphia Presbyterian Church] was also a warm and tender pastor. In the great Pauline tradition, Archibald Alexander had a shepherd’s heart. He loved people and was the friend and counselor of all who needed help….

Nowhere does the soul of the preacher blend so perfectly and symbolically with the heart of the pastor as in the discourse Alexander was asked to deliver at a special service…, following the burning of the theater in Richmond [Virginia]. In this conflagration, seventy-five persons lost their lives, including the Governor of the state of Virginia. Speaking from the text “Weep with them that weep” (Rom. 12:15) the preacher analyzed and applied the principle of sympathy as prescribed by the Christian religion in contrast to the cold impassivity of the Stoic ethic.

In Alexander’s words (A Discourse Occasioned by the Burning of the Theatre in the City of Richmond, Virginia, on the Twenty-Sixth of December, 1811 (1812)):

One leading difference between the system of ethics prescribed by the Stoics, and that inculcated by Christianity is, that whilst the former aims at eradicating the passions, the latter endeavours to regulate them, and direct them into their proper channels. The attempt of the first is as impracticable as is undesirable; the object of the last, is, by divine aid, in a good degree attainable, and in it consists much of the dignity, perfection, and happiness of man.

The great Author of our being has implanted the principle of sympathy deeply in human nature; and has made the susceptibility of feeling the sorrows of another, as extensive as the race of man. It is common to the untutored savage, and to the man of refinement and education: and traces of it are even discovered in the animal creation; many species of which appear to be strongly excited, as often as any great evil threatens, or befals, any of their own kind.

This principle of sympathy, whilst it indicates the unity of our species, seems to form a mysterious bond of connexion between all its members….

But, however sympathy may be abused, there is a legitimate and proper exercise of it, to which we are not only prompted by nature, but directed by reason, and exhorted by religion. There are occasions, when not to "weep with them that weep," would be rebellion against every principle which ought to govern us, as well as against those which commonly do influence men. If the sufferings of an enemy may be such as to affect us — if we are excited to weep at the woes of a stranger — what must our feelings be, when we recognise, in the cry of unutterable anguish, the well known voice of an acquaintance, a friend, a brother, or a sister? Such a cry of distress, from the capital of our native state, has recently pierced our ears, and filled our hearts with grief. The sons of Virginia, resident in this place, are to-day called upon to mourn, and to mingle their sympathetic tears with those of the whole state.

Let us be mindful that to “weep with them that weep” is the mark of a tender, Christian heart. When the circumstances call for sympathy, Christians must mingle their tears with those who are aching, adding our prayers too. May the Lord deliver us from hearts of stone, and grant us tears when sympathy is called for and prayers for those in need. Alexander closes his discourse with this thought:

My last advice, therefore, is, BECOME REAL CHRISTIANS. Make religion a personal concern. Attend to it without delay. "Remember now thy in the days of thy youth." And may the God of all grace crown the exercises of this day with his blessing, for Christ's sake.

The Book that would understand me: Émile Cailliet and the Bible

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Émile Cailliet was born in Dampierre, France on December 17, 1894. He served in the French armed forces in World War I, and distinguished himself with many degrees from the Universities of Montpelier and Strasbourg. After coming to America, he served as a professor French literature at the University of Pennsylvania; Scripps College and Claremont Graduate School in California; and Wesleyan University in Connecticut. In 1960, he began to teach Christian philosophy at Princeton Theological Seminary, in which capacity he continued until his death in 1983. He translated and edited select works of Blaise Pascal, and wrote about him in The Clue to Pascal (1944) and Pascal: The Emergence of Genius (1961); as well as The Christian Approach to Culture (1953). He and his wife were members of the Presbyterian Church.

He also wrote several articles in Eternity magazine, one which tells a remarkable autobiographical account of his coming to Christ. Although we do not currently have any works by Cailliet on Log College Press, this extract is given as a profound testimony worth remembering.

I was born in a small village of France and received an education that was naturalistic to the core. This could possibly have had a great deal to do with the fact that I did not even see a Bible before I reached the age of twenty-three.

To say that this naturalistically inspired education proved of little help through front-line experiences as a lad of twenty in World War I would amount to quite an understatement. When your own buddy - at the time speaking to you of his mother - dies standing in front of you, a bullet in his chest, what use is the sophistry of naturalism? Was there a meaning to it all?

One night a bullet got me, too. An American field ambulance crew saved my life and later the use of a badly shattered arm was restored. After a nine-month stay at the hospital, I was discharged and resumed graduate work.

During my stay at the American hospital, I had married a Scotch-Irish girl whom I had met in Germany on Christmas Eve the year before the war had broken out. She was, and has always remained, a deeply evangelical person. I am ashamed to confess that she must have been hurt to the very core of her being as I made it clear that religion would be taboo in our home. Little did I realize at the time that a militant attitude often betrays an inner turmoil.

I had returned to my books, but they were no longer the same books. Neither was my motivation the same motivation. Reading in literature and philosophy, I found myself probing in depth for meaning. During long night watches in the foxholes, I had in a strange way been longing - I must say it, however queer it may sound - for a book that would understand me.

But I knew of no such book. Now I would in secret prepare one for my own private use. And so, as I went on reading for my courses I would file passages that would speak to my condition, then carefully copy them in a leatherbound pocket book I would always carry with me. The quotations, which I numbered in red ink for easier reference, would mead me as it were from fear and anguish, through a variety of intervening stages, to supreme utterances of release and jubilation.

The day came when I put the finishing touch to "the book that would understand me," speak to my condition, and help me through life's happenings. A beautiful, sunny day it was. I went out, sat under a tree, and opened my precious anthology. As I went on reading, however, a growing disappointment came over me. Instead of speaking to my condition, the various passages reminded me of their context, of the circumstances of my labor over their selection.

Then I knew that the whole undertaking would not work, simply because it was of my own making. It carried no strength of persuasion. In a dejected mood, I put the little book back in my pocket.

At that very moment, my wife - who, incidentally, knew nothing of the project on which I had been working - appeared at the gate of the garden, pushing the baby carriage.

It had been a hot afternoon. She had followed the main boulevard only to find it too crowded. So she had turned to a side street which she could not name because we had only recently arrived in town. The cobblestones had shaken the carriage so badly that she had pondered what to do. Whereupon, having spotted a patch of grass beyond a small archway, she had gone in with the baby for a period of rest.

It turned out that the patch of grass led to an outside stone staircase which she had climbed without quite realizing what she was doing. At the top, she had seen a long room, door wide open. So she entered.

At the further end, a white-haired gentleman worked at a desk. He had not become aware of her presence. Looking around, she noticed the carving of a cross. Thus she suddenly realized that this office was a part of a church building - of a Huguenot church edifice hidden away as they all are, even long after the danger of persecution has passed. The venerable-looking gentleman was the pastor.

She walked to his desk and heard herself say, "Have you a Bible in French?"

He smiled and handed over to her a copy, which she eagerly took from his hand; then she walked out with a mixed feeling of both joy and guilt.

As she now stood in front of me, she meant to apologize, but I was no longer listening to her.

"A Bible, you say? Where is it? Show me. I have never seen one before!"

She complied. I literally grabbed the book and rush to my study with it. I opened and "chanced" upon the Beatitudes! I read, and read, and read - now aloud with an indescribable warmth surging within. I could not find words to express my awe and wonder. And suddenly the realization dawned upon me: this was the book that would understand me!

I continued to read deeply into the night, mostly from the Gospels. And lo and behold, as I looked through them, the One of whom they spoke, the One who spoke and acted in them became alive to me.

The providential circumstances amid which the book had found me now made it clear that while it seemed absurd to speak of a book understanding a man, this could be said of the Bible because its pages were animated by the presence of the living God and the power of his mighty acts. To this God I prayed that night, and the God who answered was the same God of whom it was spoken in the book. (Eternity magazine, July 1974).

The Making of a Minister by Russell Cecil

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Among the many notable addresses given at the Centennial Celebration of Princeton Theological Seminary in 1912 is one titled “The Making of a Minister” by Russell Cecil (1853-1925), who at the time was serving as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS).

He begins by establishing some of the necessary prerequisites for any minister, and goes on to describe what else is important and most valuable in the building blocks of the ministry.

Among those things that are essential and necessary, he says, are the following:

  • a minister must be male;

  • a minister must be godly;

  • a minister must be learned in the Scriptures; and

  • a minister must be called to his office by God.

Other non-essential, but nevertheless important and helpful factors in what makes up a good ministerial candidate, highlighted by Cecil, include the following:

  • a godly, religious, stable upbringing, emphasizing the influence of family and education;

  • a wholesome spiritual atmosphere at seminary, which is conducive to the spiritual and academic learning by the student of the ministry;

  • a course of theological study that is broad and encompasses a full range of useful matter for pastoral ministry; and

  • a studied effort to improve one’s method of expression, including both composition and delivery of the message.

It was also Cecil’s view that every pastor should be imbued with “the missionary spirit,” no matter whether they were going to be established at a country church or sent to foreign shores. An evangelistic zeal for sharing the gospel should be part of the spirit of one’s theological training that one should carry with them throughout their pastoral career.

He closes with this thought:

I close with the remark that Christian people every where feel that humanizing influences should be thrown around the young men in our seminaries; that they should not be cloistered scholastics, withdrawn from the stirring life of the day; but that they should be men of loving hearts, who, when they come forth to their work, are able to sympathize with the poor and needy, and know how to dispense the gospel of the grace of God to our perishing race.

Read the full address by Cecil here and see how he fleshes out his message. It is a worthy read about “The Making of a Minister,” a most excellent and noble calling.

The man who founded the Stone Lectures at Princeton

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The Stone Lectures constitute a famous tradition that encompasses Abraham Kuyper’s Lectures on Calvinism (1898) and Herman Bavinck’s The Philosophy of Revelation (1908), among other notable examples. But for whom are these lectures given bi-annually at Princeton Theological Seminary named?

Levi Payson Stone was born on May 1, 1802 in Wendell, Massachusetts. Raised in a religious household, he became a successful businessman. His father’s counsel, which he followed, was: “See to it my child, that the world does not get too strong a hold of your affections. It is a deadly enemy to the soul. Be diligent in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.”

One key moment in his life was the reading of Charles Hodge’s The Way of Life.

…the thing that brought him to the light, and gave him settled convictions, was the reading of Dr. Charles Hodge's Way of Life, in which the words in II Cor. 5: 14, were explained in a way that was new to him. When he saw what the Apostle meant in saying, "If one died for all, then were all dead," — that is, not that all were dead in sin before Christ died for them, but that all died in Him to sin when He died; — " If one died for all, then all died;" — when he caught sight of this clear statement of a vicarious atonement in which the Lord Jesus became the sinner's substitute, bearing the penalty in his stead, his mind was filled with light and peace. And ever afterward he seemed grateful to the man who had been the means of opening his eyes. To some extent, this doubtless explains the deep interest he took in Princeton Seminary, in which Dr. Hodge was a professor.

He made a personal covenant which reads as follows:

Lord's day, July 4, 1830. It is this month two years since I began to indulge a hope in the mercy of God in Jesus Christ; and one year this day since I took upon me the vows of God in pubhc, and was admitted into the communion and fellowship of the church. Relying on the promises to repenting sinners of acceptance through the Redeemer, I do this day renewedly devote myself to the service of God; all my faculties of body and mind, all my time, property and influence, resolving to bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ, and to live no longer unto myself, but unto Him that died for me, choosing Him for my whole portion for time and eternity. Through divine assistance. — L. P. S.

In his memoir, one can read snatches of his poetry from the journal that he kept during this time. It was in 1841 that he was ordained to serve as a deacon at the Brick Presbyterian Church in New York City. Gardiner Spring was the pastor of that congregation at the time.

After retiring in 1866, Stone endowed the L.P. Stone Lectureship at Princeton Theological Seminary in 1871. Shortly before his death in 1884, he bequeathed to the same seminary a collection of old Puritan books. Both a director and a trustee of Princeton Theological Seminary, he also served as director of the German Theological Seminary at Newark, New Jersey (now known as Bloomfield College).

After an illness, he entered into glory on December 31, 1884. The prayer at his memorial service was offered by A.A. Hodge. His name lives on not only through the lectureship which he sponsored, but also in the Book of Life in which all saints are held in precious remembrance. “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints” (Ps. 116:15). Read more about his life and legacy here.

How a conversation in Latin led Charles Beatty into the ministry

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Samuel Miller tells the tale of how Charles Beatty, as a teenager, having emigrated from his native Northern Ireland and arrived in America with a measure of classical education already under his belt, in the providence of God, met William Tennent, Sr., the founder of the Log College. Their encounter was a memorable one, which led to a great chapter in the history of God’s kingdom on earth.

The Rev. Charles Beatty was a native of Ireland. He obtained a pretty accurate classical education in his own country; but his circumstances being narrow, he migrated to America, and employed several of the first years of his residence on this side of the Atlantic in the business of a pedlar. In the pursuit of this vocation, he halted, one day, at the “Log College,” on the Neshaminy, then under care of the Reverend William Tennent the elder. The pedlar, to Mr. Tennent’s surprise, addressed him in correct Latin, and appeared to be familiar with that language. After much conversation, in which Mr. Beatty manifested fervent piety, and considerable religious knowledge, as well as a good education in other respects, Mr. Tennent addressed him thus — “You must quit your present employment. Go and sell the contents of your pack, and return immediately, and study with me. It will be a sin for you to continue a pedlar, when you may be so much more useful in another profession.” He accepted Mr. Tennent’s offer; returned to Neshaminy; completed there his academical and theological studies; and in due time became an eminent minister. He died in Barbadoes, wither he had gone to solicit benefactions for the college of New-Jersey [Princeton], about the time of Mr. Rodgers’ removal to New-York (Memoirs of the Rev. John Rodgers, D.D., p. 109).

Beatty went on to serve as the pastor of Tennent’s church at Neshaminy, and as a missionary on the western frontier. He was a close friend and companion of David Brainerd. Although born in Ulster and buried on the Caribbean island of Barbados, his name is remembered as an American Presbyterian pastor and pioneer missionary of great eminence. And in the providence of God, it was his knowledge of Latin that led him to a life of service to Christ and his kingdom.

Stepping Heavenward at Log College Press

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Even in the 21st century, Stepping Heavenward by Elizabeth Payson Prentiss constitutes one the most beloved spiritual classics in print today. It comes from the pen of a 19th century American Presbyterian writer, who left a legacy of literature for young ladies, in particular, which has recently been added to Log College Press.

The daughter of the famous Congregationalist minister Edward Payson, and later the wife of Presbyterian minister George Lewis Prentiss, at the age of 12 Elizabeth made a profession of faith at the Bleecker Street Presbyterian Church in New York City.

She returned to New York City in 1851, but within a year, she lost two of her children. The sufferings in her life inspired her writings. As she once said, “Much of my experience of life has cost me a great price and I wish to use it for strengthening and comforting other souls.” This quote comes from The Life and Letters of Elizabeth Prentiss, published by her husband. Alfred Nevin, in the Encyclopedia of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, tell us that “Her memoir…is one of the most beautiful of religious biographies.”

Take time to read her famous classic, as well as her other writings, which are available here. See the publications of her husband here.

Joseph B. Stratton on the Kingship of Christ

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What does it mean when the Apostle Paul says that Jesus Christ is “the head over all things to the church” (Eph. 1:22)? No Christian questions whether Christ is King over the church. But is more meant by Paul than that simple proposition? Joseph Buck Stratton answers in a sermon preached on December 27, 1857 entitled “The Kingship of Christ” (A Pastor’s Valedictory: A Selection of Early Sermons (1899), pp. 20-21).

But the Scriptures teach much more than that Christ reigns in his church. He reigns also for the church. He is King in regard to whatsoever concerns the church. He commands and controls whatsoever can affect the church. Thus he is said to be "head over all things to the church." The world, out of which the church is gathered, and in which it exists, is not independent of his dominion, and is under his regimen, for the sake of the church. It does not tolerate the church, but it is tolerated on account of the church. It was made for Christ's kingdom; it is preserved in order to the completion of his kingdom; and when it is needed no more for his kingdom's sake, it will exist no more. And while it stands, it has no power in an atom of it to move against his consent, or his bidding, and is working together in all its parts for the accomplishment of his mediatorial purposes, and for good to them that love God and are the called according to his purpose. Hence his promise in regard to the church "the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."

And so he is king in regard to whatsoever is connected with the mission end of the church; "I am with you always," he said to his apostles when he gave them the charge to go and make disciples of all nations; and this word, "I am with you always," dwelling as it does as an ever living promise in the bosom of the church, is a security that his kingship is ever co-operating with the church. He is reigning over the world and in the world, for the furtherance of the work of the church. Just as he is said to have been in the church of old "in the wilderness," and just as he opened the sea, and made the rock gush with water, and the heavens rain down manna, and the walls of hostile cities fall to the ground, and the hearts of brave armies quail before the terror of his presence; for their deliverance and their triumph, so still, he is in the midst of the Sacramental host of his elect. And though their wanderings may seem long, and their victory and their inheritance seem to tarry strangely in their coming, yet, as surely as Israel reached the promised land, Christ, the King, in the greatness of his strength will travel with his church, till he and she together shall cross the last entrenchment of the enemy, and trample the ruins of the last stronghold of Satan beneath their feet. Such then, is his kingdom, the church; and the world so far as it is regarded as the scene and the subject of the church's operation.

This doctrine of the mediatorial kingship of Christ over all things for the good of his church, as taught by Paul and expounded upon here by Stratton, is a great comfort to believers in the midst of a hostile world. Christ has been appointed king for purposes that not only give glory to God but will do his people good not only by ruling and defending us, but also, in the words of the Westminster Shorter Catechism, “restraining and conquering all his and our enemies” (Q/A 26). “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth” (Matt. 28:18), he says. In his mediatorial office of King, the scope of his dominion is universal, and thus, he reigns over all and the victory over all belongs to him - praise to our King!

James W.C. Pennington - The first African-American to receive a European doctorate of divinity

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Today marks a milestone worth remembering in American Presbyterian history: 170 years ago on December 19, 1849, James W.C. Pennington, the fugitive slave blacksmith who became a Presbyterian minister, was awarded the degree of Doctor of Divinity by the University of Heidelberg, Germany — thereby becoming the first African-American to receive this honor from a European university.

The story of this honorary degree is told by Herman E. Thomas in James W.C. Pennington: African American Churchman and Abolitionist (Studies in African American History and Culture and by Christopher L. Webber in American to the Backbone: The Life of James W. C. Pennington, the Fugitive Slave Who Became One of the First Black Abolitionists (2011). As Webber notes, the faculty told Pennington on that momentous occasion that “You are the first African who has received this dignity from a European university, and it is the University of Heidelberg that thus pronounces the universal brotherhood of humanity.”

Self-taught and able in Greek, Latin and German; author of the scholarly A Text Book of the Origin and History of the Colored People (1841) (and later, the fascinating autobiography, The Fugitive Blacksmith; or, Events in the History of James W.C. Pennington, Pastor of a Presbyterian Church, New York, Formerly a Slave in the State of Maryland, United States (1850); and social activist as well as minister of the gospel; Pennington was a worthy selection by the faculty for this honor, although Pennington, with humility and grace, stated that he did not deserve this award but accepted it as a tribute to his race. What is particularly remarkable is that his academic attainments came through the extra effort required by being denied enrollment at Yale Divinity School, and though he was permitted to attend and audit classes, he was barred from speaking in class or borrowing library books. The hurdles he overcame both before and after he escaped from slavery in order to exercise his liberty and pursue his dreams are one thing; the freedom he found in Christ, as all Christians can testify, is even more profound.

“In 2011, the Heidelberg Center for American Studies (HCA) and the Faculty of Theology of Heidelberg University established the James W.C. Pennington Award.” Source: University of Heidelberg (https://www.hca.uni-heidelberg.de/forschung/pennington_en…

“In 2011, the Heidelberg Center for American Studies (HCA) and the Faculty of Theology of Heidelberg University established the James W.C. Pennington Award.”
Source: University of Heidelberg (https://www.hca.uni-heidelberg.de/forschung/pennington_en.html)

We pause today to remember and to reflect upon this milestone achievement by James W.C. Pennington and what it represents in the history of African-Americans, Presbyterians and the world.

This is the Happy Day! - Émile Doumergue on the Church of the Psalms

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In April 1902, at Geneva, Switzerland, a lecture was given by a man described later by Lorraine Boettner as the the author of “the most exhaustive and authoritative work ever published on [John] Calvin” - Émile Doumergue. Seven years later, on the occasion of Calvin’s 400th birthday, this address on “Music in the Work of Calvin” was translated and published by B.B. Warfield. It highlights not only a tremendous appreciation on the part of Calvin for Biblical aesthetics in worship, but also how very foundational one particular aspect of the arts was to the Calvinistic branch of Christendom - the Psalter. One extract is here given, but the entire address is very much worth reading (found here).

Here we are, gentlemen, on a fine afternoon in May, 1558, on the great promenade of the students of Paris, the Pré-aux-Clercs, on the banks of the Seine. Some students are singing the Psalms, and their singing is so fine that their comrades gather and sing with them. The same scene is repeated the next day. Only, the lords of the court — Chatillon, Condé, the King of Navarre — mingle with the singers. It is a procession of seven or eight hundred people which unrolls itself, and the immense and delighted crowd listens with transport. What is it? The apparition of the Psalm, sung in chorus — “that unexpected harmony”, as Michelet puts it, “that sweet, simple and strong singing, so strong as to be heard a thousand leagues away, so sweet that everyone thought he heard in it the voice of his mother”. And while to the echoes of the Pré-aux-Clercs, there were answering the echoes of the Pré Fichaut of Bourges or of the promenades of Bordeaux, the old historian of the University of Paris, Bulee, said: “In the singing of the Psalms, the Protestants laid the foundations of their religion”; and Florimond de Raemond said: “It is from this event [the apparition of the Psalms] that the Church of Calvin may be dated” — the Church of the Psalms.
…
From that moment, the Psalms have been indissolubly bound up with the life, public and private alike, of Calvinists, and, as has been remarked, it would be possible to make a calendar, in which all the salient events of the history of French Protestantism should be recalled by a verse of a Psalm.

Here is that famous verse, for example, of Psalm 118:

This is the happy day
That God Himself did make;
Let us rejoice alway
And in it pleasure take.

Now, in describing the battle of Coutras (1587), won by Henry of Navarre, the son of Jeanne d’Albret, from the Duke de Joyeuse and the Catholic army, D’Aubigne expresses himself thus:

“Of the two artilleries, the last to come, that of Huguenots, was the first in position, and commenced to play before nine o’clock. Laverdin, seeing the damage which it did, rode towards his general and cried out, while still some distance off: ‘Sir, we are losing by waiting: we must open up.’ The response was: ‘Monsieur the Marshal speaks the truth.’ He returned at a gallop to his place, gave the word and charged.

“On the other side, the King of Navarre having had prayer offered throughout the army, some began to sing the Hundred-and-eighteenth Psalm: ‘This is the happy day.’ Many Catholics of the White-Cap cried out loudly enough to be heard: ‘S’Death! They are trembling, the poltroons; they are making confession.’ Vaux, lieutenant of Belle-garde, who had more frequently rubbed knees with these people and who alone rallied for the combat, said to the Duke: ‘Sir, when the Huguenots take this figure, they are ready to lay on with a will.’ ” And some hours later the victory was theirs.

But this same song, “This is the happy day”, has sustained the Calvinists in other combats, more dangerous, more difficult. It is heroic to cast ourselves at a gallop without fear into the midst of the battle. It is more heroic, laid on a bed of agony, to receive, calm and smiling, the assault of the last enemy which man has to conquer on this earth. Such a hero, the author whose narrative we have just read showed himself. His widow relates: “Two hours before his death, he said with a joyful countenance and a mind peaceable and content, ‘This is the happy day’.” There is something more heroic still. Listen! Far from the excitement of the combat, unsustained by the affections and care of friends, face to face with the mob howling with rage and hate, on the scaffold, at the foot of the gallows, here are the martyrs of the eighteenth century, — the Louis Rancs, the Frangois Benezets, the Frangois Rochettes,' — who, with their glorious souls, raise towards the heavens where their Saviour listens to them, the song of triumph: “This is the happy day!”

The Psalms in the heart of the Bible were at the heart of Biblical worship as envisioned and practiced by John Calvin. To join with him in singing such praise to God — oh, this is the happy day!

Histories of the Westminster Assembly

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Among the writings of American Presbyterians at Log College Press, we have several significant historical studies of the Westminster Assembly and its members.

  • James Reid, Memoirs of the Lives and Writings of Those Eminent Divines, Who Convened in the Famous Assembly at Westminster, in the Seventeenth Century, Vol. 1 (1811) and Vol. 2 (1815)

  • Thomas Smyth - The History, Character, and Results of the Westminster Assembly of Divines (1844)

  • Charles Augustus Briggs - The Documentary History of the Westminster Assembly (1880)

  • William Wirt Henry, Sr. - The Westminster Assembly: The Events Leading Up to It, Personnel of the Body, and Its Method of Work - An Address (1897)

  • Presbyterian Church in the United States - Memorial Volume of the Westminster Assembly (1897)

  • William Henry Roberts, ed. - Addresses at the Celebration of the Two Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the Westminster Assembly (1898)

  • John Moffatt Mecklin - The Personnel of the Westminster Assembly (1898)

  • John DeWitt - The Place of the Westminster Assembly in Modern History (1898)

  • Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield - The Making of the Westminster Confession (1901) and The Westminster Assembly and Its Work (1908)

One enduring classic history of the Westminster Assembly was published in 1843 by the Scottish Presbyterian William Maxwell Hetherington. But the first such history published by anyone (so far as this writer knows) was published two years prior - by an American Presbyterian, Archibald Alexander: A History of the Westminster Assembly of Divines (1841).

As far as we know, no history of the Assembly has ever been separately written….The compiler of the following history has now indicated the sources from which he has derived his materials. He puts in no claim to original research: if he deserves any credit, it is merely for collecting and arranging what he found scattered in the authors named. For many years he sought for information on this subject, with but little success. He has found the same complaint of a want of information, and a desire to obtain it, in many persons; especially in young ministers, and candidates for the ministry, which induced him to undertake the labour of collecting, under suitable heads, such information as was accessible to him; and if it should prove unsatisfactory to some, whose knowledge is more extensive, yet he is persuaded that it will supply a desideratum to many, who will be gratified with the particulars which he has been able to collect.

As James I. Helm wrote in a review of Hetherington and Alexander’s works in 1843, “It is somewhat remarkable that two centuries should have elapsed before any separate history of the Westminster Assembly was given to the public” (The Biblical Repertory and Princeton Review vol. 15, no. 4 , October 1843, p. 561).

These studies help to shine a light on a most important time and place in church history. The legacy of the Westminster Assembly and the standards it produced and the men who contributed so much to the well-being of the Church constitute a story that was overdue for the telling in 1841, and remains a story worth getting to know here in the 21st century. Check out these fascinating studies and learn more about the Westminster Assembly and its rich spiritual legacy.

Chaney's Planetarium

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James McDonald Chaney (1831-1909) was a Presbyterian minister best-known for authoring William the Baptist. This fictional dialogue between an immersionist and a Presbyterian minister remains a classic presentation of the Biblical view of baptism.

Chaney, James McDonald photo.gif

However, Chaney was a man of varied interests. Besides William the Baptist and its sequel, Agnes, Daughter of William the Baptist, or The Young Theologian, he wrote other works of science fiction, such as Poliopolis and Polioland, or A Trip to the North Pole (1900) and Mac or Mary, or The Young Scientists (1900) [these works are not yet available at Log College Press, although the former can be read online here].

Moreover - in the vein of John Calvin who wrote “Let us mark well Job's intent here is to teach us to be astronomers, so far as our capacity will bear… [for] God intends to make us astronomers, so far as each man’s capacity will bear it” (Sermon 33 on Job 9:7-15) - Chaney invented a small-scale planetarium. It is described for us here in an 1896 publication.

Source: The Observer (March 1896), p. 123.

Source: The Observer (March 1896), p. 123.

A “greatly improved” edition of this planetarium is pictured in another journal the following year.

Source: Popular Science (January 1897), p. vi.

Source: Popular Science (January 1897), p. vi.

It is not known by this writer whether any of Chaney’s planetariums still exist. But his love of science remains an inspiration to those who heed the counsel of Ovid, as quoted by John Calvin: “While other animals look downwards towards the earth, he gave to man a lofty face, and bade him look at heaven, and lift up his countenance erect towards the stars” (Calvin’s commentary on Isaiah 40:26).

The kingdom of Christ will live forever! - Samuel Miller

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It was on September 29, 1813, that Dr. Samuel Miller was inaugurated as Professor of Ecclesiastical History and Church Government at Princeton Theological Seminary. His inaugural discourse was never published, but it was summarized briefly by his son in The Life of Samuel Miller, Vol. 1 (pp. 358-359).

That address was known as a Sketch of the Characters and Opinions of Some of the More Conspicuous Witnesses for the Truth During the Dark Ages. Perhaps one day this discourse, which resides in manuscript form at the Princeton Theological Seminary Archives, and which needs further editing, as Miller himself acknowledged in a letter, will be published after all. We are given a taste to whet our appetite for it with these powerful lines as recorded by Dr. Miller’s son:

Paul is no more! Claudius is no more! Wickliffe, Luther, Calvin, are gone! But the kingdom of Christ did not die with them! It still lives; and it will live forever!

His son observes that we are hereby taught not to despair or be discouraged, even in troublous and perilous times. God has his faithful witnesses even in the darkest of periods, but whether times are good or bad, his kingdom endures through all. Jesus Christ reigns in both the midst of his enemies as well as his willing subjects (Psalm 110:1-3). Faithful witnesses we must be in whatever age of history we are called to serve, yet we are but servants of the Most High King, and the kingdom we serve will never disappear from the earth, but rather, as Miller himself once later preached in 1835, “the earth will be filled by the glory of God!”

The Translated and the Untranslated at Log College Press

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In 1812, on the occasion of the inauguration of Archibald Alexander as Professor of Didactic and Polemic Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary, Samuel Miller preached a memorable sermon titled The Duty of the Church to Take Measures for Providing An Able and Faithful Ministry in which he made an observation about the benefit of ministerial acquaintance with other languages besides English:

And here I will take occasion to remark, the great importance of a familiar acquaintance with the Latin language, to the Theologian. Although no part of scripture is written in that language, yet it is almost essentially necessary to pass through this vestibule, in order to arrive at the knowledge of any other ancient language; most valuable grammars and dictionaries being written in Latin: and almost all Theological works, not designed for the immediate use of the people, were composed in this language, prior to the middle of the last century, a very small portion of which have been translated into English. The course of theological study would indeed be very much circumscribed, if we were destitute of this key to unlock its rich treasures.

Samuel Davies had made a similar point about the importance of knowledge of languages in the previous century:

[Candidates] have acquir’d the Latin and Greek languages; studied Philosophy, particularly, Logic, Ontology, Pneumatology; and read sundry approven Systems of Theology, besides various Writings on particular important subjects; as, on Natural and Revealed Religion in Opposition to Atheism, Deism, &c. Most of them have learn’d Hebrew, and some of them read Physics and Ethics, or Natural and Moral Philosophy; besides what progress they made in sundry branches of Mathematics [The Impartial Trial, Impartially Tried, and Convicted of Partiality: in Remarks on Mr. Caldwell’s, alias Thornton’s Sermon Intituled, An Impartial Trial of the Spirit, &c. and the Preface of the Publisher in Virginia (Williamsburg, VA: W. Parks, 1748), 17, quoted in Joseph C. Harrod, Theology and Spirituality in the Works of Samuel Davies, p. 37].

James W.C. Pennington (the fugitive blacksmith slave who became a Presbyterian minister), though denied admittance to Yale Divinity School and only permitted to silently audit courses, famously taught himself Greek and Latin, and was described by a contemporary as an able German scholar as well, showing how motivated he was to learn languages to aid his work for the kingdom of Christ.

An able (educated) and faithful Presbyterian ministry has proved to be a multilingual blessing to the Church. Here at Log College Press we have noticed some of the fruits of these language skills. Many of the writers here have translated works from other languages into English, while others have written in languages besides English, including dictionaries and grammars for students. Some of the work, particularly by missionaries, involved pioneering cross-cultural communication. In today’s post, we will attempt to survey some of these linguistic efforts.

Translations

  • Archibald Alexander translated from Latin into English (and slightly abridged) the 1675 inaugural discourse of Herman Witsius on The Character of the Genuine Theologian;

  • James Waddel Alexander translated The Annunciation of Messiah to Our First Parents by Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg and a portion of Jules Michelet’s memoirs of Martin Luther, both from German into English;

  • Elias Boudinot translated the Gospel of Matthew into Cherokee;

  • Abraham Rezeau Brown translated the Memoirs of Augustus Hermann Francke and an article On the Song of Solomon from German into English;

  • Stephen Foreman translated the Gospel of Luke into Cherokee;

  • Stephen Return Riggs translated much of the Bible into the Dakota language, and John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress, as well as other works;

  • Benjamin Breckrinridge Warfield translated Émile Doumergue’s 1909 discourse on Music in the Work of Calvin from French into English;

  • John Leighton Wilson translated the Gospel of Matthew into Grebo (1838);

  • Samuel Isett Woodbridge, Sr. translated The Golden-Horned Dragon King; or, The Emperor’s Visit to the Spirit World (1895), The Mystery of the White Snake: A Legend of Thunder Peak Tower (1896), and China’s Only Hope: An Appeal by Her Greatest Viceroy, Chang Chih-Tung, with the Sanction of the Present Emperor, Kwang Su (1900) from Chinese into English;

  • Julia McNair Wright translated Romain Kalbris: His Adventures By Sea and Shore by Hector Malot from French to English.

It is also especially worthy of note that one of the most significant translation works ever accomplished was George Musgrave Giger’s translation of Francis Turretin’s Institutes of Elenctic Theology. Although this particular work is not available at Log College Press, the author is represented here. Prior to Giger’s translation of these volumes, James Renwick Willson had translated Turretin on the Atonement of Christ (1817, 1859).

Also worthy of note are the discourses by Jean-Henri Merle d'Aubigné appended to Robert Baird’s memoir of the author. Included are translations by M.M. Backus and Thomas Smith Grimké (uncle of Francis James Grimké Fresh translations of most of these discourses from the French into English were later made by his son Charles Washington Baird.

Bilingual Dictionaries and Grammar Studies

  • James Curtis Hepburn published A Japanese and English Dictionary (1867);

  • Robert McGill Loughridge published an English and Muskokee Dictionary (1890);

  • William McCutchan Morrison published Mukanda Wa Kuluida Muibidi (1904); Nsumuinu Yakambabo Kudi Jisus (1904); and a Grammar and Dictionary of the Buluba-Lulua Language as Spoken in the Upper Kasai and Congo Basin (1906);

  • Charles Henry Parkhurst published Analysis of the Latin Verb: Illustrated by the Forms of the Sanskrit (1870);

  • Stephen Return Riggs published The Dakota First Reading Book (1839) and a Grammar and Dictionary of the Dakota Language (1851)

  • John Leighton Wilson published A Grammar of the Mpongwe Language, With Vocabularies (1847), A Grammar of the Bakěľe Language, With Vocabularies (1854), and Heads of Mpongwe Grammar; Containing Most of the Principles Needed by a Learner (1879);

  • Samuel Brown Wylie published An Introduction to the Knowledge of Greek Grammar (1838).

The Untranslated

If the earth belongs to the Lord, how good it is when he is exalted in every language and his kingdom on earth strengthened by the translation of edifying literature into each language. American Presbyterian ministers and missionaries recognized the value of linguistic knowledge and translation work early on, and we see its value in many of the works at Log College Press that we find and make accessible to readers. We rejoice when linguistic barriers to the spread of the gospel are overcome. May God be glorified in every language and by every tongue!

Autograph Manuscripts at Log College Press

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Recently, Reformation Heritage Books has published a transcription of notes taken by Charles Hodge during lectures on Systematic Theology delivered by Archibald Alexander. Those handwritten notes can be found on their respective pages. The transcription collaboration by Travis Fentiman and James M. Garretson and others is titled God, Creation, and Human Rebellion: Lectures Notes of Archibald Alexander from the Hand of Charles Hodge and is available for purchase here.

It is worth noting that a growing segment of the content available at Log College Press consists of such handwritten autograph manuscripts. Recently, we have uploaded some additions which we wanted to let readers know about.

  • Samuel Davies, annotations on portions of the New Testament;

  • Minutes of Hanover Presbytery, Vol. 1 (1755-1769), Vol. 2 (1769-1785), Vol. 3 (1786-1795), Vol. 4 (1796-1804);

  • Charles Hodge, Journal of European Travels (1827-1828);

  • Charles Colcock Jones, Sr., Charge (n.d.) [this is a handwritten document of 35 pages intended as a guide for newly ordained Presbyterian officers]; and three volumes of handwritten sermons covering 1840-1842, 1843-1845 and 1844-1855;

  • Brief Historical Sketches (1793/1858) of Bethel Presbyterian Church, White Hall, Maryland by George Luckey and George Morrison, Jr.;

  • Jonathan Parsons, Notebook of Handwritten Sermons (1727-1772);

  • 94 handwritten sermons by Ebenezer Pemberton, Jr. from the period from the 1740s to the 1770s;

  • James W.C. Pennington, Letter to Amos Augustus Phelps dated Feb. 26, 1846 (sent from Jamaica) (1846);

  • Minutes of the Synod of Virginia, Vol. 1 (1788-1797), and Vol. 2 (1798-1806);

  • William Tennent, III: 1) Louisburgh Taken (1759) [poem on a major British victory in the French and Indian War]; 2) The Birth of Measures (1759) [poem]; 3) Strive to Enter In at the Straight Gate: A Sermon Preached at New York, January 20, 1765 (1765); 4) Speech on the Dissenting Petition, Delivered in the House of Assembly, Charleston, South Carolina, January 11, 1777 (1777); 5) Let Young Men Be Really Modest (n.d.); and 6) Some of the Blessings of Military Law, or, The Insolence of Governor Gage (n.d.); and

  • Diary of Moses Waddel in three parts: 1823-24 [handwritten], 1824-1826 [typed transcript] and 1826-1827 [handwritten].

As our content continues to grow, please check back with us to see what else is new. There are challenges involved in working through handwritten manuscripts from the 18th and 19th centuries - but also great rewards!

Remembering Robert Annan

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After having been thrown from his carriage the Sabbath before, Presbyterian minister Robert Annan went to his heavenly home on this day in history: December 5, 1819. One of the founding members of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church in 1782, he was also the author of one of the earliest American commentaries on the Westminster Confession of Faith.

A man of many interests, he carried on a debate through the newspapers under the pseudonym Philochorus with Benjamin Rush over the legitimacy of capital punishment (opposed by Rush). He also received a visit from George Washington once during the American War of Independence to discuss what were presumably mastodon bones found on Annan’s farm, an account of which Annan later published.

A leading force among the dissenting wing of colonial American Presbyterianism, Robert Annan is remembered two hundred years to the day that he entered his eternal rest.