The Planting of Presbyterianism in the Bluegrass State

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As the city of Harrodsburg, Kentucky this month celebrates the 250th anniversary of its founding on June 16, 1774, we at Log College Press pause to remember the planting of Presbyterianism in the Bluegrass State.

It was in Harrodsburg on October 12, 1883, that Presbyterians came together to commemorate the centennial of that event, which has been recognized as a sermon preached by “Father” David Rice at Fort Harrod in October 1783. The addresses delivered on that occasion are notable and worthy of our attention today.

  • J.N. Saunders gave an Historical Address;

  • E.P. Humphrey gave a necrological report titled The Dead of the Presbyterian Church of Kentucky;

  • L.G. Barbour spoke on The Relation of the Presbyterian Church to Education in Kentucky;

  • T.D. Witherspoon related The Distinctive Doctrines and Polity of Presbyterianism (Log College Press has republished this address under the title The Five Points of Presbyterianism [2017]); and

  • Moses D. Hoge addressed The Planting of Presbyterianism in Kentucky One Hundred Years Ago.

“Father” David Rice is buried in Danville, Kentucky.

As recounted by Saunders and Hoge, David Rice is credited with delivering the first Presbyterian sermon in Kentucky just one month after the Treaty of Paris brought an end to hostilities between the American colonies and Great Britain, and officially granted independence to the United States of America. The text for that sermon (and for Hoge’s 1883 discourse) was: “The people which sat in darkness Saw great light; And to them which sat in the region and shadow of death Light is sprung up” (Matt. 4:16). This signified that the light of the gospel was dawning among a people who lived largely in spiritual darkness.

There is, however, an asterisk to be noted here. Many sources indicate that it was Terah Templin who preached the first Presbyterian sermon in Kentucky perhaps three years before Rice.

Terah Templin is buried in Bardstown, Kentucky.

The First Presbyterian Sermon in Kentucky was by the Rev. Terah Templin, probably in 1781; he was not ordained until 1785. In the spring of 1783, Rev. David Rice (“Father Rice” he was generally called, although only in his 50th year) visited, and in October following immigrated from Virginia to Danville, and became a power in the church and in furthering the cause of education. — Collins' Historical Sketches of Kentucky, Vol. 1 (1878), p. 515

Louis B. Weeks indicates that Templin was the first Presbyterian preacher in Kentucky and that he arrived in 1780, preaching “several times that summer as a licentiate of Hanover Presbytery” (Kentucky Presbyterians [1983], p. 13).

In 1784, the first Presbyterian Church in Kentucky was organized by Rice in Danville; the Transylvania Presbytery was established in 1786 with Rice serving as Moderator; and the rest, as they say, is history.

This is a replica of the original log cabin meetinghouse for the Concord Presbyterian Church in Danville, Kentucky which was organized by David Rice in 1784.

The memoirs of David Rice, published by Robert Hamilton Bishop 200 years ago in 1824, tell us much about this gifted pioneer minister but only mention Terah Templin in passing. Certainly, it was Rice that left a tremendous legacy for which all Presbyterians are greatly indebted. But he was not alone in building the Presbyterian Church of Kentucky, and the names of many other illustrious men are worthy of note too, such as James Mitchel, Caleb Wallace, Adam Rankin, James Crawford, James Blythe, and James McGready, who played a prominent role in the Great Revival of 1800. Humphrey alludes to the roll call of faith found in Hebrews 11 as he recounts these and many other names.

The seeds planted in the 1780s have borne much fruit in the centuries since, and as Harrodsburg celebrates a very special anniversary, we praise God for his work and for the saints he has raised up in this part of the Lord’s vineyard.

Communion Seasons and Tokens in Early American Presbyterianism

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What has been like a revelation to me in my research was, finding out the extensive use of Tokens in the United States. All the early Presbyterian churches appear to have used them. — Robert Shiells, The Story of the Token as Belonging to the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper (1891), p. 150

Colonial American Presbyterianism, utilizing the Westminster Directory of Presbyterian Worship until 1788, relied much on Scottish Presbyterian traditions which included both communion seasons and tokens. These important features of simple Presbyterian worship were also associated with notable revivals, including both the Great Awakening and the Second Great Awakening. “The communion seasons in Virginia, as wherever the Presbyterian Church was planted, were seasons of revival.” (Mary McWhorter Tenney, Communion Tokens: Their Origin, History, and Use (1936), p. 87). Leigh Eric Schmidt writes:

With the transplantation of Presbyterianism to the American colonies came Old World ways of organizing worship and devotion. The sacramental occasion, as one of the most prominent features of the evangelical Presbyterian tradition, was soon re-created in America. In New England, for example, enclaves of Presbyterian immigrants almost immediately staged sacramental occasions fully reminiscent of Scotland and Ulster….

In the middle colonies, where Presbyterian immigration was much heavier than in New England, sacramental occasions were proportionally larger and more pronounced. The communion seasons — prevalent, powerful, and well attended — figured prominently in the religious life of the Presbyterian immigrants throughout the region [Schmidt, Holy Fairs: Scottish Communions and American Revivals in the Early Modern Period (1989), pp. 53-54].

Julius Melton also notes this important feature of early American Presbyterian worship as well as its transatlantic nature:

One especially prominent aspect of the Presbyterian’s worship experience in the colonies was the “sacramental season.” This was the practice, inherited from Scotland, of placing the infrequent celebrations of the Lord’s Supper within a series of services — days of fasting, sermons, examination of communicants and singing for which crowds would gather from an entire region. After dwelling at length on their sins and Christ’s work of salvation, Presbyterian drew near to receive the sacrament with great awe [Melton, Presbyterian Worship in America: Changing Patterns Since 1787 (1967, 2001), p. 16].

The Great Awakening was at least in part built on the foundation of sacramental seasons of revival. This was true for the Tennents (William, Sr., William Jr., Gilbert, and John included), some of whom contributed to a famous collection of Sermons on Sacramental Occasions by Divers Ministers (1739).

Gilbert Tennent was born into a family of Scots living in Ulster, in the northeast of Ireland. By the close of the seventeenth century, Ulster had become an enclave of dissenting Presbyterians, rebels against both the English crown and the Anglican Church, who were forced by the government to settle there. These dissenters kept alive the Scottish Presbyterian tradition of field communion, or sacramental occasions, a distinctive practice that helped to maintain ties to their heritage [Kimberly Bracken Long, The Eucharistic Theology of the American Holy Fairs (2011), pp. 83-84].

Gilbert Tennent wrote in 1744 of revival that took place in his congregation at New Brunswick, New Jersey:

I may further observe, that frequently at Sacramental Seasons in New-Brunswick, there have been signal Displays of the divine Power and Presence: divers have been convinced of Sin by the Sermons then preached, some converted, and many much affected with the Love of God in JESUS CHRIST. O the sweet Meltings that I have often seen on such Occasions among many! New-Brunswick did then look like a Field the Lord had blessed: It was like a little Jerusalem, to which the scattered Tribes with eager haste repaired at Sacramental Solemnities; and there they fed on the Fatness of God’s House, and drunk of the River of his Pleasures [Thomas Prince, ed., The Christian History (1745), p. 294].

Neshaminy, Pennsylvania was the site of a sacramental occasion in June 1745 where David Brainerd assisted Charles Beatty administer the bread and the wine to “three or four thousand” in attendance which Brainerd described as a “sweet melting season.” Brainerd went on during the following year to build on this experience, along with counsel from those who commissioned his missionary labors — the Society in Scotland for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge — to host his own sacramental seasons among the Native Americans to whom he ministered.

Brainerd followed the Scottish pattern basically to the letter: Friday was “set apart for solemn Fasting and Prayer”; Saturday was given over to further preparations and exhortations; Sunday brought the Lord’s Supper and more sermons; Monday concluded “the Sacramental Solemnity” with praise, thanksgiving, and calls for sustained moral discipline….This sacramental season proved to be among the most satisfying events in Brainerd’s life; indeed, the “sweet Union, Harmony and endearing Love” he experienced there was “the most lively Emblem of the heavenly World, I had ever seen” [Schmidt, Holy Fairs, p. 55].

Brainerd spoke similarly of a sacramental occasion that he participated in at Freehold, New Jersey just a couple of months later (June 1746) which was hosted by William Tennent, Jr., describing it as “a season of comfort to the godly, and of awakening to some souls” (ibid., p. 56). These sacramental seasons are a running theme throughout his ministry, especially to the Native Americans. Yet, as Schmidt notes, “No one, as far as I know, has ever taken stock of Brainerd’s sacramental revivals and seen just how thoroughly Presbyterian in this matter he had become” (ibid., p. 235).

The first Covenanter communion in America took place at the “Junkin Tent” in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, on August 23, 1752, and was administered by John Cuthbertson. This was also the first instance of the use of communion tokens in America. It bore the simple abbreviation “L.S.” for “Lord’s Supper” on one side only. These tokens were used to signify admittance to the Lord’s Table.

Commemorative 1752 communion token (photo by R. Andrew Myers).

In colonial Virginia, even before the arrival of Samuel Davies, a sacramental occasion was held by William Tennent, Jr. and Samuel Blair, where it was reported that “The Assembly was large, and the Novelty of the Mode of Administration did peculiarly engage their Attention….It appeared as one of the Days of Heaven to some of us; and we could hardly help wishing we could with Joshua have delayed the Revolutions of the Heavens to prolong it” [Samuel Davies, The State of Religion Among the Protestant Dissenters in Virginia (1751), p. 17]. A few years later, a paper communion token was used by Samuel Davies in Hanover County, Virginia. Note the sacramental poem written by Davies himself.

Samuel Davies’ communion token held at the William Smith Morton Library, Union Theological Seminary, Richmond Virginia (photo by R. Andrew Myers).

John Todd, John Wright, Robert Henry, John Brown and John Craig were among other Virginia Presbyterian evangelists who observed sacramental occasions and found them to be “special outpourings of the spirit” (John Wright, January 20, 1757 Letter found in John Gillies, Historical Collections (1845 ed.), p. 520). David Rice, who grew up under the ministry of Samuel Davies and John Todd, also helped to bring the practice of sacramental seasons to Kentucky.

The importance of communion gatherings in Davies's practice and Rice's conversion reveals that both men stood in the long tradition of Presbyterian sacramental seasons dating back to seventeenth-century Scotland. From the beginning, these "holy fairs" were protracted religious celebrations, sometimes attracting thousands of participants, which included not only the celebration of the sacrament but also fervent preaching. Such seasons were centers of religious renewal and revival, and the practice was continued by many Presbyterians in North America. In particular, this tradition can be traced through the family history of the Tennents, the Log College and its offshoots, the work of Samuel Davies, and Rice himself, who conducted similar communion seasons throughout his ministry. These gatherings would continue to be central to religious life on the frontier, though they would also become centers of controversy as the frontier context and new religious trends took the communion seasons in new directions [Andrew M. McGinnis, “Between Enthusiasm and Stoicism: David Rice and Moderate Revivalism in Virginia and Kentucky,” The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, Vol. 106, No. 2 (Spring 2008), pp. 172-173].

Robert B. Davidson notes that communion seasons and tokens were part of the Kentucky Revival:

The sacramental meetings, or sacraments, as they were called, were held at long intervals, when several ministers attended and took part; tokens were distributed; a long Action Sermon preached; the tables duly fenced; a succession of tables served; a fresh minister assigned to each table, and a fresh exhortation to each company; and when the communicants were numerous, (many coming from a distance,) the services were protracted till sunset, and became extremely tedious and fatiguing [Davidson, History of the Presbyterian Church in the State of Kentucky (1847), pp. 103-104].

James McGready was a pioneer Kentucky evangelist who seemed to be most in heaven while on earth at the communion table. Hear how he speaks in “The Believer Embracing Christ”:

The believer sometimes meets with Christ and embraces him in the arms of faith when he is seated at a communion table, then by faith, he sees a mangled, bleeding, dying, rising, triumphant Jesus, heading his own table, and feasting his blood-bought children with the bread of life and the milk and honey of Canaan [McGready, The Posthumous Works of the Reverend and Pious James M’Gready (1831), pp. 134-135].

As colonial Presbyterianism became less oriented towards traditional Scottish worship and more distinctly American, communion seasons and communion tokens began to fade away from the 19th century mainline American Presbyterian experience, and even, more slowly so, from the experience of Reformed (Covenanter) and Associate Reformed Presbyterians. John M. Mason was among those who argued for more frequent communion, and in this he was followed by James W. Alexander (see The Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper [1840]), and others, until the communion season was no longer found to be the norm in the American Presbyterian experience.

THE LORD’S SUPPER. This sacrament, although celebrated infrequently, was still probably the high point in the worship experience of an Old School Presbyterian, as diaries and autobiographies of the period indicate. The high value placed upon the Communion is seen also in the effort that was made to bring about more frequency in its celebration and to separate it from the cumbersome appendages of the sacramental season. This idea had been advanced by the revisers of the Directory [of Public Worship] in 1787, but was overruled by the 1788 synod. A harbinger of change was the decision by a New York congregation of the Associate Reformed Presbytery to “discontinue the custom of observing a fast day before, and thanksgiving day after, the administration of the Lord’s Supper.” This change, which prompted much discussion in that Presbyterian denomination, had been promoted by the New York pastor John Mitchell Mason, author in 1798 of the book Letters on Frequent Communion [Melton, Presbyterian Worship in America: Changing Patterns Since 1787, pp. 39-40].

Nevertheless, to hold a communion token in one’s hands is to hearken back to that bygone era when sacramental seasons marked perhaps the pinnacle of an Old School American Presbyterian’s spiritual pilgrimage on earth. If one listens closely, one might almost hear the faint sounds of a psalm sung, “Perhaps Dundee’s wild-warbling measures rise, / Or plaintive Martyrs, worthy of the name; / Or noble Elgin beets the heavenward flame” (Robert Burns, A Cotters’ Saturday Night).

Planted on the hillside here the ‘Banner of Blue,’
And worshipped God in simple form as Presbyterians do.
Upon this very ground was heard the voice of prayer,
And ancient Psalm to solemn tune they sang. —
’Do good in thy good pleasure, Lord, unto our Zion here;
The walls of our Jerusalem establish Thou and rear.’
Thus prayer and praise were made to God,
Nor dread of any foe
Dismayed our fathers in their work
So many years ago.
— Paraphrase of William McCombs, Two Hundred Years Ago (1842) in Mary McWhorter Tenney, Communion Tokens: Their Origin, History, and Use (1936), p. 59

Samuel Miller and the Waldensians

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Samuel Miller, professor of Church History and Ecclesiastical Polity at Princeton Theological Seminary, had a particular interest in the body of evangelical Christians known as Waldensians or Vaudois who inhabited the historic Valleys of the Alps in the Piedmont or Savoy region that includes portions of France, Italy and Switzerland. That interest manifests itself in the fact that across a wide variety of literary productions, Miller highlighted the significance of Waldensian history, theology and polity in so many of his works.

Some of his writings are directly and specifically about the Waldensians, such as Doctrine and Order of the Waldenses (1820-1821); an Appendix to James Wharey, Sketches of Church History, Concerning the History and Doctrine of the Waldensians (1838, 1840); and a Recommendatory Letter to Jean Paul Perrin’s History of the Ancient Christians Inhabiting the Valleys of the Alps (1845, 1847). The first of these — a series of letters published in The Virginia Evangelical and Literary Magazine — deals with the theology and ecclesiology of the Waldensians. The second is an appendix is a response to a Baptist writer, William Jones, who made the argument that the Waldensians were not paedobaptists, but credobaptists. The third commends to the reader an English translation of a classic history of the Waldensians by a 17th century Waldensian pastor.

As we will see from other writings, Miller often hearkens back to the history, beliefs and practices of the Waldensians to buttress his arguments on a variety of topics.

In A Sermon, Delivered Before the New-York Missionary Society, at their Annual Meeting, April 6th, 1802 (1802), p. 25, Miller highlights the Waldensians, along with other groups who continued to shine the light of the true gospel in the dark ages:

Faithful witnesses of God, and zealous reformers of his Church, appeared, in different parts of the world, for a long time before the period eminently distinguished as the aera of the Reformation. The Waldenses, in Italy and Spain; the Albigenses, in France; the followers of Huss and Jerome, in Germany, and of Wickliff, in England, all bore an honourable testimony against the corruption of their day, and contended, with a noble firmness, for the faith once delivered to the saints.

In The Divine Appointment, the Duties, and the Qualifications of Ruling Elders; A Sermon (1811), p, 17, Miller cites Perrin’s History to show that the Waldensians included the office of ruling elder in their polity.

John Paul Perrin, the celebrated historian of the Waldenses, and who was himself one of the Ministers of that people, in a number of places, recognizes the office of Ruling Elder as retained in their churches. He expressly and repeatedly asserts, that the Synods of the Waldenses, long before the time of Luther, were composed of Ministers and Elders.

In Holding Fast the Faithful Word [a sermon on Titus 1:9] (1829), pp. 33-34, Miller held up the Waldensians as an example of a bright spot in a dark time.

I am constrained to believe that, even in defending the most precious truth, it is the pious Waldenses in the dark ages, solemnly recorded, at different periods, that testimony to the truth and order of the Gospel, which rendered them "lights in the world" while they flourished; and have served to illuminate and encourage the steps of millions in succeeding times.

In The Warrant, Nature, and Duties of the Office of the Ruling Elder (1831) [and The Warrant, Nature, and Duties of the Office of the Ruling Elder: A Sermon (1844)], Miller returns to the subject of ruling elders and argues (at some length in the former work) that the polity of the Waldensians included the office of ruling elder on an equal basis with that of minister of the gospel. In the quote below (pp. 109-110) he also identifies the Waldensians as being very similar to the Albigenses (which is a point of contention among some).

Accordingly, the Rev. Dr. Ranken, in his laboriously learned History of France, gives the following account of the Waldenses and Albigenses, whom he very properly represents as the same people. ‘Their government and discipline were extremely simple. The youth intended for the ministry among them, were placed under the inspection of some of the elder barbes, or pastors, who trained them chiefly to the knowledge of the Scriptures; and when satisfied of their proficiency, they received them as preachers, with imposition of hands. Their pastors were maintained by the voluntary offerings of the people. The whole Church assembled once a year, to treat of their general affairs. Contributions were then obtained; and the common fund was divided, for the year, among not only the fixed pastors, but such as were itinerant, and had no particular district or charge. If any of them had fallen into scandal or sin, they were prohibited from preaching, and thrown out of the society. The pastors were assisted in their inspection of the people's morals, by Elders whom probably both pastors and people elected, and set apart for that purpose.’

In The Importance of Gospel Truth (1832), Miller makes the point that sound theology has a practical bearing on the piety of people:

In the days of Godeschakus; of Claudius of Turin; of the Waldenses; of Wickliffe; and of Huss and Jerome, it was manifest that practical piety rose or sunk, just as sound or erroneous doctrines bore sway.

In Presbyterianism the Truly Primitive and Apostolical Constitution of the Church of Christ (1835, 1836), pp. 19-20, Miller shows the Waldensians to be essentially Presbyterian in their polity and worship:

But the undoubted fact, which places this whole subject beyond all question, is, that after the commencement of the Reformation in Geneva, the Waldenses not only held communion with that Church, which we all know was strictly Presbyterian, but also received ministers from her, and of course recognised the validity of her ordinations in the strongest practical manner. This they could never have done, had they been in the habit of regarding the subject in the same light with modern prelatists.

But the Waldenses were not merely Presbyterian as to the point of ministerial parity. According to their own most authentic writers, as well as the acknowledgment of their bitterest enemies — they resembled our beloved Church in almost every thing. They rejected all human inventions in the worship of God, — such as the sign of the cross in baptism; fast and festival days; the confirmation of children and youth; the consecration of edifices for public worship, &c. We are also told that all their churches were bound together by Synods, which assembled once a year; that these Synods were composed of Ministers and Ruling Elders, as in the Presbyterian Church; that their business was to examine and ordain candidates for the ministry, and authoritatively to order every thing respecting their whole body. We may say, then, with strict regard to historical verity, that, in the darkest and most corrupt periods of the Church, Presbyterianism was kept alive in the purest, and indeed, in the only pure churches now known to have then existed.

In Infant Baptism Scriptural and Reasonable: and Baptism by Sprinkling or Affusion, the Most Suitable or Edifying Mode (1837), p. 28, he argues thus:

It is here also worthy of particular notice, that those pious and far famed witnesses for the truth, commonly known by the name of the Waldenscs, did undoubtedly hold the doctrine of infant baptism, and practise accordingly. In their Confessions of Faith and other writings, drawn up be-tween the twelfth and sixteenth centuries, and in which they represent their creeds and usages as handed down, from father to son, for several hundred years before the Reformation, they speak on the subject before us so frequently and explicitly, as to preclude all doubt in regard to the fact alleged. The following specimen of their language will satisfy every reasonable inquirer.

"Baptism," say they, “is administered in a full congregation of the faithful, to the end that he that is received into the church may be reputed and held of all as a Christian brother, and that all the congregation may pray for him that he may be a Christian in heart, as he is outwardly esteemed to be a Christian. And for this cause it is that we present our children in baptism, which ought to be done by those to whom the children are most nearly related, such as their parents, or those to whom God has given this charity."

From this brief survey, we can see that the Waldensians had significance to Miller whether he was addressing matters of polity, worship, and practical piety. He drew from histories of the Waldensians (one from his personal library, by William Sime, may be read on Google Books, for example), their confessional documents, and sometimes from what their own critics had to say of them. He considered them to be among the “faithful witnesses” who maintained the truth in the Dark Ages before the Reformation, despite the fiercest persecution, and whose beliefs and practices were in harmony with those of the Reformers of the 16th and 17th centuries. Miller wished that a copy of Perrin’s History of the Waldensians could be found in every Christian family library in the United States and encouraged its study to all who were interested “to inquire what the Church of God has been in its best days since the Apostolic age.” As both a student and a teacher of ecclesiastical history, whose legacy many recognize and honor today, the prominence that Miller assigned to the value of their testimony may gain our attention and consideration as we too look back through the annals of church history on their faithful example, and remember the Waldensians.

James Hunt and the Revival of Presbyterianism in Virginia

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“I think books are like people, in the sense that they'll turn up in your life when you most need them.” — Emma Thompson

James Hunt, an interesting colonial American Presbyterian minister in his own right, had a ringside seat to the 1740’s revival in Virginia known as the Great Awakening. He was born in Hanover, Virginia on February 19, 1731 to James and Sarah Hunt. The elder James Hunt in the early 1740s was part of a group led by Samuel Morris who were disaffected with the stale liturgical and spiritually dry worship that they experienced in the established Anglican church of the Old Dominion colony of Virginia.

A letter from a gentleman who knew the younger James Hunt and spoke to him shortly before his death and which contained Hunt’s narrative account of the events was published with annotations by John Holt Rice in the August 1819 issue of The Virginia Evangelical and Literary Magazine under the title Origin of Presbyterianism in Virginia.

This narrative of Hunt, conveyed to us by John Holt Rice, may be compared with other primary accounts of the beginning of the Hanover revival such as the letter of Samuel Morris (found in a 1751 letter from Samuel Davies to Joseph Bellamy and published as The State of Religion Among the Protestant Dissenters in Virginia); and the account given by David Rice (which appears in Robert H. Bishop, An Outline of the History of the Church in the State of Kentucky, During a Period of Forty Years, Containing the Memoirs of Rev. David Rice (1824)), and yet the narrative of Hunt, who was present (and indeed was spiritually awakened there) stands out for its rich, fascinating detail and, especially, for Hunt’s “pertinent remarks on the various providences of God” in the events which shaped the course of the revival.

Detail of the 1753 Fry-Jefferson map of Virginia, focusing on Hanover County in the center.

The Samuel Morris group had managed to acquire certain religious books which stirred something deep within them, including Thomas Boston’s Human Nature in Its Four-Fold State, Martin Luther’s commentary on Galatians, the sermons of George Whitefield, and the works of John Bunyan. The group would gather at a Reading Room constructed for the purpose of reading these works aloud and discussing them, and as this activity grew in popularity, additional reading rooms were erected, something that did not go unnoticed by the civil authorities.

One of the Samuel Morris Reading Rooms, the reconstructed frame of which stands at the Historic Polegreen Church in Mechanicsville, Virginia (photo by R. Andrew Myers).

At this point, we will take up Hunt’s narrative directly:

And now their number became too large for any private house to contain them. Another step is taken — they build first one and then another of what they called ‘reading houses.’ Here the number of attendants and the force of divine influence much increase. The charge against the four principals, first engaged in the work, is changed — they are no longer considered as individual delinquents, whose obstinacy might be sufficiently punished by the civil magistrate; but as a malignant cabal, that required the interposition of the Executive. They are accordingly cited to appear before the Governor and Council. This was a shock for which they were not well prepared. The exaction of frequent fines, for nonattendance at church, they bore with patience and fortitude for the sake of a good conscience; but to be charged with a crime, of the nature, and extent, and penalty of which they had but indistinct conceptions, spread a gloom over their minds, and filled them with anxious forbodings, more easily conceived than described. They were placed in the most awkward situation. They were certainly and obviously a religious society. separate and distinct from the only one, the established church, which either the government, or the people, knew in the country; yet they were without a name. — They saw and felt the propriety of being able some how to designate themselves when they came before the Governor and Council. They once thought of calling themselves ’Lutherans,’ but they found some sentiments advanced in the only one of his books which they had, with which they could not agree, In the mean while the day drew on when they were to appear in Williamsburg; and with gloomy forbodings they get out without a name by which to call themselves, and without any written plan to shew the nature of the association which they had formed.

One of the four, who travelled down by himself, had to take shelter from a heavy storm of rain in the house of some poor man on the road. While there, waiting for the rain to cease, he to divert his melancholy, took down from a dusty shelf, an old dusty volume, and began to read. He had not read far, till he found himself not diverted, but deeply interested. He found his own sentiments embodied in a system. He read on with renewed pleasure and surprise, until the ceasing of the storm admonished him it was time to pursue his journey. He wished to know of the man whether he would sell that book. The man answered, no: but if he had any desire for it, he would give it to him, as he had no use for it, and it was not worth selling. Our poor distressed traveller received it as the gift of heaven — it was an old Scotch Presbyterian Confession of Faith. Meeting his companions in Williamsburgh, they took a private room, and there deliberately examined the book, and found it contained exactly the system of doctrines which they believed; and though not so well understanding the discipline, they did not so cordially approve that, yet, they unanimously agreed to adopt it as their confession of faith. Although they did not foresee the advantage it would be to them, yet it relieved them from the awkward situation in which they were, the heads and leaders of a religious society without a name. — When called before the Governor and Council, and interrogated about their profession, they presented their new found book, as their confession of faith. The Governor, Gooch, (who it was said had been educated a Presbyterian, but for the sake of an office or for some other reason, had become a member of the established church,) immediately observed, on seeing the confession, that these men were Presbyterians, and that they were tolerated by the laws of England. But the Council, not feeling the same educational prejudice in favor of Presbyterianism, or not construing so liberally the laws relating to them, were not so easily satisfied — a good deal of bitterness was manifested by them towards the poor unfortunate culprits. But in the midst of this warm discussion (Mr. Hunt observed he had often heard his father mention it with awe and reverence,) the heavens became suddenly shrouded in darkness — thunders with tremendous peals seemed to shake the foundation of the house where they were; and the council chamber where they sat, appeared for a considerable time to be one continued blaze of lightning. The Governor and Council, as well as themselves, were seized with solemn awe — Mr. Hunt’s father told him, he had never before, nor afterwards, witnessed so tremendous a storm. When it abated he and his companions were dismissed with a gentle caution to beware not to excite any disturbance in his majesty’s colony, nor by any irregularities break the good order of society in their parish.

Here Mr. Hunt stopped, to make a number of pertinent remarks on the various providences of God. Had not a storm driven one of those persecuted men into an unknown house for shelter — had the Governor not been educated a Presbyterian — or, finally, had not the clouds gathered blackness at that particular hour, it is probable the issue of their journey to Williamsburg would have been extremely different from what it was. He did not think there was any thing miraculous in any of these occurrences; but he thought (and so do I) that a man must be strangely blinded, who does not see, in such a train of unconnected contingent events, all concurring to the same end, the secret, though powerful hand of him who, ‘works all things according to the council of his own will.’

It was soon after these events that William Robinson arrived on a missionary journey to central Virginia. On July 6, 1743, Robinson preached the first Presbyterian sermon ever recorded in this region. The Samuel Morris group was so moved by his message that when it was time for him to depart they endeavored to give him some financial renumeration for his pastoral services. He declined the offer, but they managed to fill his saddle bags with money anyway which, when he realized what was done, finally accepted the gift — but not for himself. Instead, he in turn used the money to pay for the theological education of a young man he knew who had shown great promise. That young man turned out to be Samuel Davies, who would in the process of time, after completing his education, be sent to minister to the Samuel Morris group of Hanover. Davies’ missionary labors in Virginia, which are legendary, were paved by all that went before in the providence of God.

James Hunt, whose full account is very much worth reading, went on to study directly under Davies, both in Hanover and, later, at the College of New Jersey at Princeton. He was licensed to preach the gospel in 1760, and ordained to ministry the following year, whereupon he was admitted as a member of the Hanover Presbytery, under whose bounds he labored as an itinerant minister for a time. In 1763, he was called as the pastor of a congregation in Pennsylvania, but in 1770, he accepted a new call to jointly minister to the Bladensburg and Captain John’s congregations in Rockville County, Maryland, where he labored for the rest of his life. There, on his farm “Tusculum,” he founded Rockville Academy, which included among its pupils, the famous writer William Wirt. Hunt died on June 2, 1793, and his funeral sermon was preached by James Muir.

Presbyterians of South Carolina

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𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐛𝐲𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐚

So long ago that all was wilderness
Where now our love has root,
There came from other lands in eagerness
For freedom, men of might, standing for right,
Who sowed the seed of faith. Then in the light
Of Christ there grew, in loving earnestness,
This Church, our home, their fruit.

Here persecution drove the steadfast Scot;
Men from North Ireland fled;
From England others sped;
Suffering, bereft, the high-souled Huguenot
Escaped to find a safer, happier lot,
Free heart and honest bread.

From these we spring in faith and in descent,
Their very names we bear.
The Christ for whom this blood, these lives were spent,
Shows us the world in anguish, sick with strife,
Wearily waiting rest, hoping to hear
Of God’s great peace! Oh! pray that we be lent
True wisdom, strength, the power to persevere,
To show God’s love, to tell of heavenly life,
Until our Lord appear.

— Louisa C. Smythe Stoney, in Margaret A. Gist, Presbyterian Women of South Carolina (1929), p. xiii

America's Debt to Calvinism

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"He that will not honor the memory, and respect the influence of Calvin, knows but little of the origin of American liberty." — George Bancroft, Literary and Historical Miscellanies (1855), p. 406

The central thesis of this book — that John Calvin and his Genevan followers had a profound influence on the American founding — runs counter to widespread assumptions and rationale of the American experiment in government. — David W. Hall, The Genevan Reformation and the American Founding (2003), p. vii

On the Fourth of July, which is not only the date celebrated as the birth of the United States in 1776, but also the date on which Log College Press was founded in 2017, we pause to remember how God has dealt graciously with this nation in large part through the influence of the doctrines of grace and the principles of civil liberty which are associated with Calvinism.

American history has many streams running through it, including the Native American population, Spanish exploration, African-American slaves, and much more, but it cannot be denied that in the colonial era and in the early part of the republic, American principles and character were largely fashioned by the Protestant European settlers who came to this country and, looking to Scripture as their foundation, enacted laws, promoted education and even fought for freedom, on the basis of ideas taught in John Calvin’s Geneva.

To demonstrate this premise — which historically was unquestioned, but has been increasingly challenged in recent years — we will extract from the writings of some authors on Log College Press, and others, to show that many of America’s founding principles can be traced to the Calvinism that brought French Huguenots to Florida and South Carolina in 1562; English Anglicans and Presbyterians to Jamestown, Virginia in 1607; Pilgrims and Puritans to Massachusetts beginning in 1620; the Dutch Reformed to New Netherland (New York) in the 1620s; the Scotch-Irish, such as Francis Makemie in the 1680s, to Virginia and Pennsylvania; and the German Reformed settlers who, as did John Phillip Boehm in 1720, arrived in Pennsylvania and other ports of entry. Although painting a picture with broad strokes, and not at all unmindful of the secular character of this nation today under principles enshrined in the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights, it is worthwhile to consider how Geneva influenced the founding of America more than any other source. It has been well said by some that “knowledge of the past is the key to the future.”

Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, The Mayflower Compact, 1620

Egbert W. Smith writes, in a chapter titled “America’s Debt to Calvinism,” that:

If the average American citizen were asked, who was the founder of America, the true author of our giant Republic, might be puzzled to answer. We can imagine his amazement at hearing the answer given to this question by the famous German historian, [Leopold von] Ranke, one of the profoundest scholars of modern times. Says Ranke, ‘John Calvin was the virtual founder of America.’” — E.W. Smith, The Creed of Presbyterians (1901), p. 119

In a lecture given by Philip Schaff in 1854, he stated:

The religious character of North America, viewed as a whole, is predominantly of the Reformed or Calvinistic stamp…To obtain a clear view of the enormous influence which Calvin's personality, moral earnestness, and legislative genius, have exerted on history, you must go to Scotland and to the United States. — Philip Schaff, America: A Sketch of the Political, Social, and Religious Character of the United States of North America (1855), pp. 111-112

Nathaniel S. McFetridge devotes a chapter in his most famous book, Calvinism in History, to the influence of Calvinism as a political force in American history, and argues thus:

My proposition is this — a proposition which the history clearly demonstrates: That this great American nation, which stretches her vast and varied territory from sea to sea, and from the bleak hills of the North to the sunny plains of the South, was the purchase chiefly of the Calvinists, and the inheritance which they bequeathed to all liberty-loving people.

If would be almost impossible to give the merest outline of the influence of the Calvinists on the civil and religious liberties of this continent without seeming to be a mere Calvinistic eulogist; for the contestants in the great Revolutionary conflict were, so far as religious opinions prevailed, so generally Calvinistic on the one side and Arminian on the other as to leave the glory of the result almost entirely with the Calvinists. They who are best acquainted with the history will agree most readily with the historian, Merle D’Aubigne, when he says: ‘Calvin was the founder of the greatest of republics. The Pilgrims who left their country in the reign of James I., and, landing on the barren soil of New England, founded populous and mighty colonies, were his sons, his direct and legitimate sons; and that American nation which we have seen growing so rapidly boasts as its father the humble Reformer on the shores of Lake Leman [Lake Geneva].’” — N.S. McFetridge, Calvinism in History (1882), pp. 59-60

W. Melancthon Glasgow, referencing the great American historian George Bancroft, says:

"Mr. Bancroft says: 'The first public voice in America for dissolving all connection with Great Britain came not from the Puritans of New England, the Dutch of New York, nor the Planters of Virginia, but from the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians of the Carolinas.' He evidently refers to the influence of Rev. Alexander Craighead and the Mecklenburg Declaration: and this influence was due to the meeting of the Covenanters of Octorara, where in 1743, they denounced in a public manner the policy of George the Second, renewed the Covenants, swore with uplifted swords that they would defend their lives and their property against all attack and confiscation, and their consciences should be kept free from the tyrannical burden of Episcopacy....It is now difficult to tell whether Donald Cargill, Hezekiah Balch or Thomas Jefferson wrote the National Declaration of American Independence, for in sentiment it is the same as the "Queensferry Paper" and the Mecklenburg Declaration." — W. Melancthon Glasgow, History of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in America (1888), pp. 65-67

William H. Roberts, in a chapter on “Calvinism in America,” wrote:

Politically, Calvinism is the chief source of modern republican government. That Calvinism and republicanism are related to each other as cause and effect is acknowledged by authorities who are not Presbyterians or Reformed…The Westminster Standards are the common doctrinal standards of all the Calvinists of Great Britain and Ireland, the countries which have given to the United States its language and to a considerable degree its laws. The English Calvinists, commonly known as Puritans, early found a home on American shores, and the Scotch, Dutch, Scotch-Irish, French and German settlers, who were of the Protestant faith, were their natural allies. It is important to a clear understanding of the influence of Westminster in American Colonial history to know that the majority of the early settlers of this country from Massachusetts to New Jersey inclusive, and also in parts of Maryland, Virginia, and the Carolinas, were Calvinists.” — William H. Roberts in Philip Vollmer, John Calvin: Theologian, Preacher, Educator, Statesman (1909), pp. 202-203

Speaking of the Scotch-Irish, Charles L. Thompson wrote:

Did they abandon homes that were dear to them in Scotland first and then in Ireland? It was done at the call of God. They wanted homes for themselves and their children; but it was only that in them there might be a free development of the faith for which their fathers and they had suffered. Nor was their religion a thing of either forms or sentiment. It was grounded in Scripture. The family Bible was the charter of their liberties. To seek its deepest meanings was their delight. They, therefore, brought to to their various settlements in the new world a knowledge of the Calvinism which they had found in their Bibles, and a devotion to the forms in which it found expression giving definite doctrinal character to all their communities — character by which their various migrations may be easily traced. Whether in Nova Scotia, in Pennsylvania, in Kentucky and Tennessee, or wherever their pioneer footsteps led them, the stamp of their convictions, from which no ‘wind of doctrine’ and no ‘cunning craftiness’ could draw them, is seen in all their social life and on all their institutions. Almost universally they were Presbyterians and they are the dominant element in the Presbyterian Church today.

Alike among the Puritans, the Dutch and the Scotch-Irish, it was Calvinism which was the prevailing doctrine. Its relation to the life of our republic has often been recognized. — Charles L. Thompson, The Religious Foundations of America (1917), pp. 242-243

Loraine Boettner, in a section on Calvinism in America, quotes George Bancroft in regards to the American War of Independence:

With this background we shall not be surprised to find that the Presbyterians took a very prominent part in American Revolution. Our own historian Bancroft says: “The Revolution of 1776, so far as it was affected by religion, was a Presbyterian measure. It was the natural outgrowth of the principles which the Presbyterianism of the Old World planted in her sons, the English Puritans, the Scotch Covenanters, the French Huguenots, the Dutch Calvinists, and the Presbyterians of Ulster.” So intense, universal, and aggressive were the Presbyterians in their zeal for liberty that the war was spoken of in England as “The Presbyterian Rebellion.” An ardent colonial supporter of King George III wrote home: “I fix all the blame for these extraordinary proceedings upon the Presbyterians. They have been the chief and principal instruments in all these flaming measures. They always do and ever will act against government from that restless and turbulent anti-monarchial spirit which has always distinguished them everywhere.” When the news of “these extraordinary proceedings” reached England, Prime Minister Horace Walpole said in Parliament, “Cousin America has run off with a Presbyterian parson.” — Loraine Boettner, The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination (1932), p. 383

Speaking of Calvinism’s influence on America, H. Gordon Harold wrote:

Now back of every great movement lie its proponents. Who were the people that fostered rebellion and revolution in the New World? Who spoke openly against the tyrannies and indignities they experienced? Who stepped forward with ready hearts, willing to die in resistance to the injustices meted out to them in the wilderness of this remote continent? They were mostly as follows: Huguenots from France; men of the Reformed faith, presbyterians of the Continent, who had come from the Palatinate, Switzerland, and the Low Countries; Lutherans who had fled the agonies of the Thirty Years’ War; German Baptists who had endured persecution; and Presbyterians and Seceders (ultra-Presbyterians) from Scotland and Ulster; also the Puritan Congregationalists from England. Practically all of these were Calvinists, or neo-Calvinists, and a large number of them were Ulster-Scotch Presbyterians. — H. Gordon Harold in Gaius J. Slosser, ed., They Seek a Country: The American Presbyterians (1955), pp. 151-152

Douglas F. Kelly had this to say about the “Presbyterian Rebellion” of 1776:

The gibe of some in the British Parliament that the American revolution was “a Presbyterian Rebellion” did not miss the mark. We may include in “Presbyterian” other Calvinists such as New England Congregationalists, many of the Baptists, and others. The long-standing New England tradition of “election day sermons” continued to play a major part in shaping public opinion toward rebellion toward England on grounds of transcendent law. Presbyterian preaching by Samuel Davies and others had a similar effect in preparing the climate of religious public opinion for resistance to royal or parliamentary tyranny in the name of divine law, expressed in legal covenants. Davies directly inspired Patrick Henry, a young Anglican, whose Presbyterian mother frequently took him to hear Davies.” — Douglas F. Kelly, The Emergence of Liberty in the Modern World: The Influence of Calvin on Five Governments From the 16th to the 18th Centuries (1992), pp. 131-132

At Log College Press, in appreciation of this great Calvinistic heritage which was bequeathed to 21st century Americans by Geneva and those who were inspired by her to come to these shores, we wish you and yours a very happy Fourth of July! And if we have not already “taxed” our readers’ patience without their consent (this blog post is admittedly longer than most), in the spirit of the day, we offer more to read from the following blog posts from the past. Blessings to you and yours!

Introducing the Century Club at Log College Press

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Among the nearly 2,000 authors found at Log College Press there are at least three centenarians (Arthur Judson Brown [1856-1963, 106]; William Rankin III [1810-1912, 102]; and George Summey [1853-1954, 101]), as well as at least three authors who were 99 years old when they entered into their eternal rest (Littleton Purnell Bowen, David Caldwell, and Maria Fearing). But the Log College Press Century Club which we are introducing today has to do with something a little different.

To be a member of this club, there must be at least 100 works by (and sometimes about) the author on their particular pages. At this point in time, there are 27 such individuals in the LCP Century Club, as follows:

There are some other prolific writers who we anticipate may join this club at some point in the future, such as Isabella Macdonald Alden, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Finley Milligan Foster, Robert Jefferson Breckinridge and Cleland Boyd McAfee, to name a few. As the Lord gives us strength and ability, we continue to add works by these and many other writers. We still have our work cut out for us, especially, for example, with respect to T.L. Cuyler, who penned over 4,000 separate published articles. Meanwhile, if viewed as a snapshot of our most prolific authors, the LCP Century Club invites readers to explore a representative cross-section of early American Presbyterianism. We hope you will take this opportunity to see what’s available among these prolific writers’ pages (as well as those not-so-prolific), and to enjoy a visit to the past, which we trust will be a blessing to you in the present.

Davidson's Desiderata

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Early on in its history, in May 1853, a discourse was delivered at the Presbyterian Historical Society in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by Robert B. Davidson: Presbyterianism: Its True Place and Value in History (1854). After an overview of the history of Presbyterianism in Scotland and in early America, Davidson left his hearers with a list of things things desired or wanted in connection with the goal of preserving the history of Presbyterianism - a desiderata. This list was an inspired effort to steer the work of the Presbyterian Historical Society as it began to put into practice the vision of its founder, Cortlandt Van Rensselaer.

  1. Collections of pamphlets, tractates, controversial and other essays, bearing on the history of the Presbyterian church in this country, especially touching the Schism of 1741. These should be bound in volumes, and arranged in chronological order, handy for reference. No time should be lost in this work, for pamphlets are very perishable commodities, and speedily vanish out of sight. A copy of Gilbert Tennent’s Remarks on the Protest cannot now be obtained. One was understood by Dr. Hodge, when he wrote his History, to be in the Antiquarian Library, in Worcester, Mass., but the work is reported by the librarian as missing. This shows us that we should hoard old pamphlets and papers with Mohammedan scrupulosity, especially when there are no duplicates.

  2. Collections, like Gillies’, of accounts of Revivals, and other memoranda of the progress of vital religion. Such collections would be supplementary to Gillies’ great work, which does not embrace the wonderful events of the present century in America.

  3. Collections of memoirs of particular congregations, of which quite a number have been at various times printed, and which ought to be brought together and preserved.

  4. Collections of occasional Sermons, both of deceased and living divines. As old productions are of interest to us, so such as are of recent publication may interest posterity. Such collections would furnish good specimens of the Presbyterian pulpit, and might be either chronologically or alphabetically arranged.

  5. Collections of discourses delivered about and after the era of the Revolution. They would exhibit in a striking and favorable light the patriotic sympathies of the clergy at that period, as also the popular sentiment on the independence of the States, and their subsequent union under the present constitution.

  6. A similar collection of Discourses preached on the day of Thanksgiving in the year 1851, would be very interesting; exhibiting the various views held on the Higher Law, and the preservation of the Union, and also the value of the Pulpit in pouring oil on the strong passions of mankind.

  7. Biographical sketches of leading Presbyterian divines and eminent laymen. It is understood that one of our most esteemed writers is engaged in the preparation of a work of this sort, embracing the different Christian denominations. Whatever emanates from his elegant pen will be sure to possess a standard value; but it is thought, from the very structure of his projected work, such a one as is now recommended will not interfere with it, nor its necessity be superseded. Mark the stirring catalogue that might be produced, names which, though they that bare them have been gathered to their fathers, still powerfully affect us by the recollection of what they once did, or said, or wrote, and by a multitude of interesting associations that rush into the memory: Makemie, the Tennents, Dickinson, Davies, Burr, Blair, the Finleys, Beattie, Brainerd, Witherspoon, Rodgers, Nisbet, Ewing, Sproat, the Caldwells, S. Stanhope Smith, John Blair Smith, McWhorter, Griffin, Green, Blythe, J.P. Campbell, Boudinot, J.P. Wilson, Joshua L. Wilson, Hoge, Speece, Graham, Mason, Alexander, Miller, John Holt Rice, John Breckinridge, Nevins, Wirt. Here is an array of names which we need not blush to see adorning a Biographia Presbyterianiana. And the materials for most of the sketches are prepared to our hand, and only require the touch of a skilful compiler.

  8. Lives of the Moderators. There have been sixty-four Moderators of the General Assembly; and as it is usual to call to the Chair of that venerable body men who enjoy some consideration among their brethren, it is fair to infer that a neat volume might be produced. Many were men of mark; and where this was not the case, materials could be gathered from the times in which they lived, or the doings of the Assembly over which they presided.

  9. A connected account or gazetteer of Presbyterian Missions, both Foreign and Domestic, with sketches of prominent missionaries, and topographical notices of the stations. Dr. Green prepared something of this sort, but it is meagre, and might be greatly enlarged and enriched.

  10. Reprints of scarce and valuable works. It may be objected that we have already a Board of Publication, who have this duty in charge; but it is not intended to do anything that would look like interference with that useful organ. The Board are expected to publish works of general utility, and likely to be popular, and so reimburse the outlay; this society would only undertake what would not fall strictly within the Board’s appropriate province, or would interest not the public generally, but the clerical profession.

  11. A continuation of the Constitutional History of the Presbyterian Church to the present time. The valuable work of Dr. Hodge is unfinished; and whether his engrossing professional duties will ever allow him sufficient leisure to complete it is, to say the least, doubtful.

  12. Should that not be done, then it will be desirable to have prepared an authentic narrative of the late Schism of 1838; or materials should be collected to facilitate its preparation hereafter, when it can be done more impartially than at present. Dr. Robert J. Breckinridge did a good service in this way, by publishing a series of Memoirs to serve for a future history, in the Baltimore Religious and Literary Magazine.

  13. It might be well to compile a cheap and portable manual for the use of the laity, containing a compact history of the Presbyterian Church in America.

Other proposals on Davidson’s list include a history of the rise and decline of English Presbyterianism; a history of the French Huguenots; and a history of the Reformation in Scotland as well as biographical sketches of Scottish divines.

It is a useful exercise for those who share Davidson’s interest in church history to pause and reflect on the extent to which the goals that he proposed have been met. The Presbyterian Historical Society itself — located in Philadelphia — has certainly done tremendous legwork in this regard as a repository of valuable historical materials which has allowed scholars the opportunity to study and learn from the past. We are extremely grateful for the efforts of the Presbyterian Historical Society. Samuel Mills Tenney’s similar vision led to the creation of the Historical Foundation of the Presbyterian and Reformed Churches in Montreat, North Carolina. The PCA Historical Center in St. Louis, Missouri is another such agency that has done great service to the church at large as a repository of Reformed literature and memorabilia.

We do have access today to Gilbert Tennent’s Remarks Upon a Protestation Presented to the Synod of Philadelphia, June 1, 1741. By 1861, we know that a copy was located and deposited, in fact, at Presbyterian Historical Society. Though not yet available in PDF form at Log College Press, it is available for all to read online in html through the Evans Early American Imprint Collection here.

The biographical sketches then in progress that Davidson referenced in point #7 were carried through to publication by William B. Sprague. His Annals of the American Pulpit remain to this day a tremendous resource for students of history, yet, as Davidson wisely noted, though many writers have followed in Sprague’s footsteps on a much more limited basis, there is always room for more to be done towards the creation of a Biographia Presbyterianiana.

Regarding the Lives of Moderators (point #8), we are grateful for the labors of Barry Waugh of Presbyterians of the Past to highlight the men that Davidson had in mind. The lists and biographical sketches that he has generated are a very useful starting point towards achieving the goal articulated by Davidson, and help to bring to mind the contributions of Moderators to the work of the church.

There are a number of organizations that have taken pains to reprint older Presbyterian works of interest. Too many to list here, the contributions of all those who share this vision to make literature from the past accessible to present-day readers is to be applauded, including the efforts of Internet Archive, Google Books and others who digitize such works. We at Log College Press also strive to do this both with respect to reprints and our library of primary sources. For us, the past is not dead, primary sources are not inaccessible, and the writings of 18th-19th century Presbyterians are not irrelevant. It is worth noting that there are topical pages with growing resources available on Log College Press that highlight material on biographies, church history, the 1837 Old School / New School division, sermons and much more.

Much more could be said in regards to the extent to which organizations, historians and others have carried forward the goals articulated by Davidson. But for now we leave it to our readers to consider Davidson’s Desiderata, articulated over 150 years ago, and its connection to our shared interest in preserving the history and literature of early American Presbyterianism.

A Look Back at the Year 1572

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Note: This post was originally published on June 13, 2018 and is here slightly edited. We are republishing it today on the 450th anniversary of the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, which occurred on August 24, 1572. It was a profoundly significant event in church history which is worthwhile to pause and consider today. Also, on this date in history, 2,000 Puritans were ejected from their pulpits in what was known as the Great Ejection, on August 24, 1662, called Black Bartholomew’s Day.

The St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre (August 24, 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.

Forgotten Founding Fathers of the American Church and State

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There is a volume of biographical sketches that is well worth the read - William T. Hanzsche’s Forgotten Founding Fathers of the American Church and State (1954). It highlights some of the most significant colonial Presbyterians found on Log College Press. These include: Francis Makemie (“the Father of American Presbyterianism”); William Tennent, Sr. (founder of the Log College); Jonathan Dickinson (first President of the College of New Jersey in Princeton); David Brainerd (the “Apostle to the North American Indians”); Gilbert Tennent (“Son of Thunder”); Samuel Davies (the “Apostle to Virginia”); and John Witherspoon (the only clergyman to sign the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation).

Hanzsche’s study is a great introduction to these men and their legacies. Their contributions to early American Presbyterianism, and indeed, to the history of the United States and the world, are worthy of notice and appreciation. This volume helps students of history to better understand the significance of each of these American Presbyterian worthies.

American Independence and Presbyterians

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Log College Press began officially on July 4, 2017. We identify this date not only with the origin of LCP, but of course also with the founding of the United States of America, when the Declaration of Independence was promulgated in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on July 4, 1776.

In 2018, we wished our readers a Happy Independence Day; in 2019, we spoke of “Freedom’s Cost’; in 2020, the theme was “Presbyterians and the Revolution”; and today we highlight Fourth of July orations and sermons by some noted Presbyterians.

It was customary for many Presbyterians to commemorate American Independence with speeches and sermons. Here we bring to your attention a representative sample of some specimens of Presbyterian Independence oratory.

  • Samuel Clark Aiken (1827) - Speaking to the Sunday School Societies in Utica, New York, on the 51st anniversary of American Independence, Rev. Aiken of the need for nations who have been greatly blessed to maintain religion in its public and private spheres, and of the role that Sunday Schools play in this.

  • Diarca Howe Allen (1861) - Rev. Allen’s discourse, published in 1862, focused on the centennial of Lebanon, New Hampshire in the context of a celebration of national independence.

  • Nathan Sidney Smith Beman (1841) - Rev. Beman’s discourse was titled The Western Continent. Looking both the past and the future, he spoke of national blessings which should continue to expand westward.

  • Elias Boudinot IV (1793) - Speaking to the Society of the Cincinnati of the State of New Jersey on the 17th anniversary of American Independence, Rev. Boudinot called upon his hearers, with a direct preceding message to President George Washington, to strive to maintain the ideals for which American patriots had fought: “The obligations of mankind to these worthy characters increase in proportion to the importance of the blessings purchased by their labors.” He also advocated for increased rights for women.

  • Frederick Thomas Brown (1865) - Speaking on the first Fourth of July following the War Between the States, Rev. Brown argued that this was an important moment for the country in which he prayed that our nation would become stronger and more unified.

  • Hooper Cumming (1817, 1821, 1824) - Rev. Cumming, in his short life, delivered a number of Fourth of July orations, some of which are found on his page. In each, he stirs up his hearers to appreciate our national blessings, and to strive to maintain godly ideals.

  • Daniel Dana (1814) - Delivered in the midst of the War of 1812, Rev. Dana reminded his audience that God is concerned with national affairs. He highlighted God’s providence not only with respect to America but also with respect to the affairs of Europe.

  • Ezra Stiles Ely (1827) - Rev. Ely preached a Fourth of July sermon (published in 1828) — based on the concluding verses of Psalm 2 — on The Duty of Christian Freemen to Elect Christian Rulers. According to Ely, the Lord Jesus Christ is the rightful sovereign of all lands.

  • Timothy Flint (1815) - Speaking on the first Fourth of July after the War of 1812 ended, Rev. Flint called to mind the troubles that the nation had endured, but with thankfulness for the mercies of God in seeing the country through.

  • Ralph Randolph Gurley (1825) - Rev. Gurley spoke in Washington, D.C. of a religious celebration of national blessings; yet, he also addressed the fact that slavery continued to be a stain on our national honor, and of efforts to colonize Western Africa with freed slaves.

  • Symmes Cleves Henry (1824) - In this oration delivered before the Society of Cincinnati of the State of New Jersey, Rev. Henry spoke of the ideals represented by the historical events commemorated on the 48th anniversary of American Independence.

  • William Linn (1791) - Rev. Linn’s sermon, preached in New York, was based on Ps. 16:6: “The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.” He recounted many of the blessings that God’s favor had granted to a young nation.

  • John McKnight (1794) - Rev. McKnight’s Fourth of July sermon, preached in New York City, was titled God the Author of Promotion and based on Ps. 75:6-9. In the context of celebrating the birth of the American nation, he reminds his hearers that it is God who raises up and casts down.

  • Samuel Miller (1793, 1795) - Among the earliest published sermons of Rev. Miller were two Fourth of July messages preached in New York City. The first was titled Christianity the Grand Source and Surest Basis for Political Liberty.

  • Eliphalet Nott (1801) - On the 25th anniversary of American Independence, Rev. Nott spoke of The Providence of God towards American Israel.

  • George Potts (1826) - It was on the same day that both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died that Rev. Potts, speaking in Philadelphia, commemorated the 50th anniversary of American Independence.

  • Horace Southworth Pratt (1828) - Preaching in Fryeburg, Maine Rev. Pratt spoke of the nature of freedom and liberty Biblically understood.

  • Nathaniel Scudder Prime (1825) - Rev. Prime’s sermon highlighted a critical defect in our national freedom from tyranny: The Year of Jubilee; But Not to Africans: A Discourse, Delivered July 4th, 1825, Being the 49th Anniversary of American Independence.

  • David Ramsay (1778) - Speaking to an audience in Charleston, South Carolina on the 2nd anniversary of American Independence, Dr. Ramsay encouraged his hearers to consider the advantages of liberty in the midst of a war that was far from over. He would go on to record the history of the American War of Independence.

  • Henry Ruffner (1856) - Addressing his fellow Virginians in 1856 (before West Virginia seceded), Rev. Ruffner spoke of the necessity of maintaining the Federal Union: “United we stand, divided we fall.”

  • William McKendree Scott (1851) - In time-honored fashion, Rev. Scott spoke to his fellow citizens at a “barbacue” held in Danville, Kentucky to commemorate our national independence.

  • Isaac Nathan Shannon (1852) - Rev. Shannon, preaching in New Brunswick, New Jersey, highlighted the providence of God in the history of the American nation.

  • William Buell Sprague (1827, 1830) - Rev. Sprague preached on the 51st and 54th anniversaries of American Independence, calling for religious celebration of this momentous event in our history, and reminding his congregation that “Happy is the people whose God is the Lord” (Ps. 144:15).

  • Joseph Sweetman (1810) - Rev. Sweetman preached on religion as the foundation for national prosperity at Charlton, New York.

  • Joseph Farrand Tuttle (1876) - Speaking on the centennial of American Independence, Rev. Tuttle recalled the efforts and sacrifices of the revolutionary forefathers of Morris County, New Jersey.

  • William Spotswood White (1840) - Rev. White preached on 4th of July Reminiscences and Reflections: A Sermon in Charlottesville, Virginia, also on Ps. 144:15. Acknowledging the political agitations that were convulsing the land at the time, he spoke of the providential guidance and blessing that America has received and for which we should give thanks.

It is worth taking time to brush off the dust, so to speak, on these historical orations and sermons and consider what our American Presbyterian forefathers had to say about independence, liberty, national blessings, and the need for further reformation, and freedom for all.

Happy Independence Day to our readers from Log College Press!

John Moorhead: Pastor of Boston's Church of the Presbyterian Strangers

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In the midst of the great Puritan Migration to New England (1620-1640), some Scotch-Irish assembled a congregation in Boston, Massachusetts which was known as the ‘Church of the Presbyterian Strangers.’ Its first pastor was the Rev. John Moorhead (1703-1773). He was born in Newton, near Belfast, in County Down, Ireland (Ulster), and educated in Edinburgh, before arriving in Massachusetts.

All accounts indicate that he was a very pious minister, who engaged in family visitation, catechism, and a faithful ministry of the Word. He left a deep impression among his flock and others, and has been noted in various studies of New England Presbyterianism.

It was not until 1730 that a Presbyterian Church was organized in Boston. Under the leadership of the Reverend John Moorhead a congregation known as “The Church of the Presbyterian Strangers” was organized and met in a “converted barn” owned by John Little on Long Lane. In 1735 title to the property was conveyed to the congregation for use by the Presbyterian Society forever “and for no other use, intention, or purpose whatever.” This “converted barn” served the congregation until 1744 when a new edifice was erected. It was in this building in 1788 that action was taken to make Massachusetts a state, in commemoration of which the name Long Lane was changed to Federal Street and the meeting house came to be known as Federal Street Church.

The congregation flourished and by the time their new building was erected numbered more than 250. Mr. Moorhead served the group until his death in December, 1773, following which the church was supplied by itinerant ministers [including David McClure] until 1783 when the Reverend Robert Annan was called to be pastor. Internal strife and opposition from the Puritan oligarchy finally led Mr. Annan to resign in 1786 after which the group voted themselves into a Congregational Society and after 1803 when William Ellery Channing became pastor, they joined the Unitarian fold. Relocating and erecting a new building in 1860 this group became the Arlington Street Church. In similar fashion one by one most of the seventy fairly well established Presbyterian churches of eighteenth century New England went over to other denominations. — Charles N. Pickell, Presbyterianism in New England: The Story of a Mission, pp. 6-7

A memoir of Moorhead written in 1807 says this of the early days of that congregation:

This little colony of Christians, for some time, carried on the public worship of God in a barn, which stood on the lot which they had purchased. In this humble temple, with uplifted hearts and voices, they worshipped and honoured Him, who, for our salvation, condescended to be born in a stable.

This same biographer highlights an important aspect of Moorhead’s ministry - family visitation.

Once or twice in the year, Mr. Moorhead visited all the families of his congregation, in town and country; (one of the Elders, in rotation, accompanying him,) for the purpose of religious instruction. On these occasions, he addressed the heads of families with freedom and affection, and inquired into their spiritual state, catechised and exhorted the children and servants, and concluded his visit with prayer. In this last solemn act, (which he always performed on his knees, at home and in the houses of his people), he used earnestly to pray for the family, and the spiritual circumstances of each member, as they respectively needed.

In addition to this labour of family visitations, he also convened, twice in the year, the families, according to the districts, at the meeting-house, when he conversed with the heads of families, asking them questions, on some of the most important doctrines of the gospel, agreeably to the Westminster confession of faith; and catechised the children and youth.

A young parishioner of Rev. Moorhead, David McClure, who briefly ministered to the flock in Boston after Moorhead’s death, wrote in his journal about this feature of the ministry at the Church of the Presbyterian Strangers.

We had the special advantage of a religious education & government in early life. Our parents gave us the best school education that their circumstances would allow. The children who could walk were obliged to attend public worship on the Sabbath, & spend the interval in learning the Shorter & the Larger Westminster Catechisms, & committing to memory some portion of the Scriptures. My mother commonly heard us repeat the catechisms on Sunday evenings. My parents departed with the supporting hope of salvation through the glorious Redeemer. In her expiring moments my mother gave her blessing & her prayers to each of her children, in order. She had many friends who mourned her death. She was favored with a good degree of health & was very cheerful, active & laborious, in the arduous task of raising, with slender means, a large family. To the labours of our worthy minister the Rev. Mr. Moorhead, we were much indebted for early impressions of religious sentiments. His practice was frequently to catechize the Children & youth at the meeting House & at their homes & converse & pray with them. He also visited & catechized the heads of all the families in his congregation, statedly.

Moorhead is mentioned often in Alexander Blaikie’s History of Presbyterianism in New England (although under the spelling of “Moorehead”). Blaikie writes that Moorhead was ordained on March 30, 1730, and adds that

"This religious society was established by his pious zeal and assiduity."…He was the forty-sixth minister settled in Boston, and "soon after his induction he married Miss Sarah Parsons, an English lady, who survived him about one year."

André Le Mercier, the 37th minister settled in Boston, a French Huguenot Presbyterian, was a colleague of Moorhead’s at this time and is mentioned by Blaikie in this connection.

A letter from Rev. Moorhead [not yet available on Log College Press] was published in Glasgow, Scotland in 1741, which gives an account of conversions associated with the Great Awakening ministries of George Whitefield and Gilbert Tennent.

Portrait of Phillis Wheatley by Scipio Moorhead (1773). It is said to be “the first frontispiece depicting a woman writer in American history, and possibly the first ever portrait of an American woman in the act of writing.”

Portrait of Phillis Wheatley by Scipio Moorhead (1773). It is said to be “the first frontispiece depicting a woman writer in American history, and possibly the first ever portrait of an American woman in the act of writing.”

Moorhead was a slave owner. His slave, Scipio Moorhead, is famous in history for his artistic skill. His portrait of Phillis Wheatley appeared in her Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral (1773). Wheatley wrote An Elegy to Miss Mary Moorhead, on the Death of Her Father, the Rev. Mr. John Moorhead in December 1773. Of him she wrote:

With humble Gratitude he render'd Praise,
To Him whose Spirit had inspir'd his Lays;
To Him whose Guidance gave his Words to flow,
Divine Instruction, and the Balm of Wo:
To you his Offspring, and his Church, be given,
A triple Portion of his Thirst for Heaven;
Such was the Prophet; we the Stroke deplore,
Which let's us hear his warning Voice no more.
But cease complaining, hush each murm'ring Tongue,
Pursue the Example which inspires my Song.
Let his Example in your Conduct shine;
Own the afflicting Providence, divine;
So shall bright Periods grace your joyful Days,
And heavenly Anthems swell your Songs of Praise.

The “Presbyterian Strangers” of Boston thought very highly of their pastor. In his funeral sermon [not yet available on Log College Press], by David McGregore, he was described as “an Israelite indeed.” He left an enduring legacy that is reflected in the lives of David McClure and others. Boston is not the city set upon a hill that it once was, although pockets of piety endure. But Moorhead is worthy of remembrance today as a pioneer of New England Presbyterianism.

The First 50 PCUSA GA Moderators

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When the first General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (PCUSA) met in May 1789 at the Second Presbyterian Church on Arch Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the Rev. Dr. John Witherspoon — the only clergyman to sign both the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation — was the convening Moderator. A new moderator was soon thereafter elected to preside over the Assembly, and every year after the process was repeated.

As recent media reports of potential plans of the PCUSA to scrap General Assembly meetings have circulated, it brings to mind past assembly meetings, and those who have moderated them. At Log College Press, the writings of many of those Moderators are available to read, including all 50 who served prior to the 1837 Old School-New School split. In fact, we now have almost all of the 18th and 19th century PCUSA and PCUS General Assembly Moderators on the site, along with many more from the RPCNA, ARP and other branches of American Presbyterianism. Here is that list of the first 50 PCUSA GA Moderators - please feel free to browse and explore their pages. It is interesting to note that among the first 50 are 3 sets of brothers.

  • 1789 — John Witherspoon (1723-1794) — Witherspoon was the Convening Moderator of the very first American General Assembly, and served as President of Princeton.

  • 1789 — John Rodgers (1727-1811) — Rodgers was one of the primary architects of the new General Assembly and revised ecclesiastical standards.

  • 1790 — Robert Smith (1723-1793) — Like Rodgers, Smith also was influential in the creation of the new PCUSA constitution, and also served as a Trustee at Princeton.

  • 1791 — John Woodhull (1744-1824) — Woodhull, too, was a distinguished minister of the gospel who also contributed to the work of establishing the new PCUSA constitution.

  • 1792 — John King (1740-1813) — King served as a pastor in Conococheague, Pennsylvania for over 40 years.

  • 1793 — James Latta (1732-1801) — Latta served the church in many capacities, including chaplain, minister, educator and author.

  • 1794 — Alexander MacWhorter (1734-1807) — A well-respected clergyman, MacWhorter helped to establish congregations in North Carolina, and ministered for many years in Newark, New Jersey.

  • 1795 — John McKnight (1754-1823) — McKnight was a prominent education and minister, serving as President of Dickinson College.

  • 1796 — Robert Davidson (1750-1812) — Like McNight, Davidson also served as President of Dickinson College.

  • 1797 — William Mackay Tennent (1744-1810) — Tennent was the grandson of the founder of the Log College, William Tennent, Sr., and ministered at the Abingdon Presbyterian Church in Pennsylvania for almost 30 years.

  • 1798 — John Blair Smith (1756-1799) — Smith served as President of both Hampden Sydney College and Union College, and made important contributions to the cause of religious liberty in Virginia.

  • 1799 — Samuel Stanhope Smith (1751-1819) — Like his brother John, Smith served as President of Hampden Sydney College; he also served as President of Princeton.

  • 1800 — Joseph Clark (1751-1813) — Clark served as a faithful minister in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

  • 1801 — Nathaniel Irwin (1756-1812) — Irwin served as pastor of the Neshaminy Presbyterian Church in Bucks County, Pennsylvania for many years.

  • 1802 — Azel Roe (1738-1815) — Roe served as pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Woodbridge, New Jersey, for 52 years.

  • 1803 — James Hall (1744-1826) — Hall was a pioneer missionary, educator, pastor and patriot.

  • 1804 — James Francis Armstrong (1750-1816) — Armstrong served as pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Trenton, New Jersey from 1786 until his death. His funeral sermon was preached by Samuel Miller.

  • 1805 — James Richards (1767-1843) — Richards was a well-regarded minister and also served as a professor at Auburn Theological Seminary.

  • 1806 — Samuel Miller (1769-1850) — One of the most well-respected theologians of the 19th century, Miller helped to establish — and served as a professor at — Princeton Theological Seminary, and he was a voluminous author.

  • 1807 — Archibald Alexander (1772-1851) — Alexander served as President of Hampden Sydney College, and as the first professor at Princeton Theological Seminary. He was the author of many books, some of which are still in print.

  • 1808 — Philip Milledoler (1775-1852) — Milledoler served as President of Rutgers College, and was influential in the founding of Princeton Theological Seminary.

  • 1809 — Drury Lacy, Sr. (1758-1815) — Lacy served as President of Hampden Sydney College, among many various contributions to the church.

  • 1810 — John Brodhead Romeyn (1777-1825) — Romeyn was an important New York Presbyterian minister who helped to establish the American Bible Society, among other labors. His sermons were highly regarded.

  • 1811 — Eliphalet Nott (1773-1866) — Nott was an eminent preacher and educator, serving as President of Union College.

  • 1812 — Andrew Flinn (1773-1820) — Flinn contributed to the pastoral, as well as educational, aspects of the ministry, and is remembered for his ministry in Charleston, South Carolina.

  • 1813 — Samuel Blatchford (1767-1828) — Blatchford served as President of  Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

  • 1814 — James Inglis (1771-1820) — Inglis ministered in Baltimore for almost 2 decades.

  • 1815 — William Neill (1778-1860) — Neill served as President of Dickinson College.

  • 1816 —James Ebenezer Blythe (1765-1842) — Blythe served as a professor and as President of Transylvania University, as well as President of Hanover College.

  • 1817 — Jonas Coe (1759-1822) — Coe ministered at the Presbyterian Church in Troy, New York for almost 30 years.

  • 1818 — Jacob Jones Janeway (1774-1858) — Janeway was an eminent pastor and author who labored much for the cause of the church and for missions.

  • 1819 — John Holt Rice (1771-1831) — An important figure in Virginia Presbyterianism, Rice served as President of Hampden Sydney College, and authored many works.

  • 1820 — John McDowell (1780-1863) — A leading Philadelphia minister, McDowell had a lengthy pastoral career, and published a number of sermons.

  • 1821 — William Hill (1769-1852) — Hill ministered in Winchester, Virginia for over 30 years.

  • 1822 — Obadiah Jennings (1778-1832) — Jennings ministered in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Tennessee.

  • 1823 — John Chester (1785-1829) — Chester served as President of the Albany Female Academy and as President of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

  • 1824 — Ashbel Green (1762-1848) — Green served as President of Princeton Theological Seminary, and authored an important exposition of the Westminster Shorter Catechism.

  • 1825 — Stephen N. Rowan (1787-1835) — Rowan began his pastoral career in the Reformed Church, but transitioned to the Presbyterian Church. He labored much for the cause of missionary efforts directed to the Jews.

  • 1826 — Thomas McAuley (1778-1862) — McAuley was the first President of Union Theological Seminary in New York.

  • 1827 — Francis Herron (1774-1860) — Herron ministered in Pittsburgh for 4 decades, and was instrumental in the founding of Western Theological Seminary.

  • 1828 — Ezra Stiles Ely (1786-1861) — Ely served as pastor of Philadelphia’s Pine Street Church for 20 years, and was a noted author and editor, and did much to help the poor.

  • 1829 — Benjamin Holt Rice (1782-1856) — Brother of John Holt Rice, Benjamin ministered in Virginia and at Princeton, New Jersey, and served as secretary of the Home Missionary Society.

  • 1830 — Ezra Fisk (1785-1833) — Fisk served as a missionary, pastor, and professor at Western Theological Seminary, among his many labors for the church.

  • 1831 — Nathan Sidney Smith Beman (1785-1871) — Beman served as President of Franklin College in Georgia, and as President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

  • 1832 — James Hoge (1784-1863) — Hoge was a pioneer leader in the history of Ohio Presbyterianism.

  • 1833 — William Anderson McDowell (1789-1851) — McDowell was the brother of John McDowell. He ministered in New Jersey and elsewhere, and served as secretary of the Board of Domestic Missions of the Presbyterian Church.

  • 1834 — Philip Lindsley (1786-1855) — Lindsley served as President of both Princeton and of the University of Nashville.

  • 1835 — William Wirt Phillips (1796-1865) — Phillips ministered in New York City for many decades, and served the church in various other capacities, including that of President of the Board of Publication.

  • 1836 — John Knox Witherspoon (1791-1853) — Witherspoon was the grandson of the earlier John Witherspoon. An educator, author and pastor, Witherspoon did much to contribute to Christian education in North Carolina.

  • 1837 — David Elliott (1787-1874) — Elliott served as President of Washington College. The last Moderator of the original united PCUSA General Assembly, he lived to be present at the reunion of 1870.

The Protesters of 1741

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On Monday, June 1, 1741, a protest authored by Robert Cross and signed by him, along with eleven other ministers and eight ruling elders, was submitted to the Synod of Philadelphia, with Jedediah Andrews serving as Moderator, which led to the great Old Side-New Side split of the colonial American Presbyterian Church. The signers were mostly from the Presbytery of Donegal, representing the Old Side party. D.G. Hart writes* that “This division in American Presbyterianism has been the most difficult one to explain in the history of the church…” The protesters, for one thing, referred to their opponents (the New Side) as “protesting brethren,” which certainly clouds the issue for those removed from the controversy by centuries.

It is not the purpose of this post to attempt to explain the circumstances and motivations of either party, which would require an essay of great length, and the tragic story is told elsewhere in church histories by Charles Hodge, Richard Webster, and others. but simply to alert students of church history to the fact that all twelve ministers who signed the Protestation are now found on Log College Press. As William Tennent’s Log College did play an important role in the events leading up to the 1741 split, it is a matter of great interest to us at Log College Press to read what the Old Side had to say, as well as the New Side.

The twelve ministers who signed included 3 Roberts, 3 Johns and 2 Samuels, and most were born in Ireland:

  • Robert Cross (1689-1766) - The Protestation’s author served the First Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia alongside Jedediah Andrews.

  • John Thomson (1690-1753) - Thomson was the author of the 1729 Adopting Act.

  • Francis Alison (1705-1779) - Alison was a scholar and educator, as well as a leading voice among Old Side presbyters. He preached the opening sermon at the 1758 reunion Synod on “Peace and Union.”

  • Robert Cathcart (d. 1754) - Cathcart ministered in Wilmington, Delaware from 1730 until his death.

  • Richard Sankey (1710-1789) - In church records, his last name is often spelled Zanchy. He was the son-in-law of John Thomson, and — after a rocky start in which he was accused of plagiarizing his ordination sermon — later served Virginia Presbyterians under the jurisdiction of the Hanover Presbytery.

  • John Elder (1706-1792) - The “Fighting Pastor” is known to history as the founder of “Paxton Boys,” who were involved in the Conestoga Massacre in the aftermath of the French and Indian War, and then marched on Philadelphia. In the American War of Independence, he recruited patriots to the American cause.

  • John Craig (1709-1774) - Craig, about whom we have written before, later served the Hanover Presbytery in Augusta County, Virginia as the first settled Presbyterian minister west of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

  • Samuel Caven (1701-1750) - Caven’s tombstone at the Silver Spring Presbyterian Church Cemetery in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania indicates that he was 44 years old when he died on November 9, 1750; however, other sources indicate that he was born (in Ireland) in 1701.

  • Samuel Thomson (1714-1787) - Although some have thought that Samuel was the son of John Thomson, the latter’s biographer, John Goodwin Herndon, makes the case that this was not so. Samuel Thomson served as pastor of the Great Conewago Presbyterian Church in Hunterstown, Pennsylvania from 1749 to 1787.

  • Adam Boyd (1692-1768) - Over a 44-year pastoral career, Boyd — a man “eminent” for piety — help to organize 16 “daughter” and “grand-daughter” churches.

  • James Martin (d. 1743) - Martin left his mark as pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Lewes, Delaware, where the house that he once owned remains an historical landmark.

  • Robert Jamison (d. 1744) - Jamison, after arriving from Ireland in 1634, ministered in Delaware until his death.

These names are worth getting to know. The ministers who signed the Protestation played an important role in a tragic chapter of American Presbyterian history, and some of them were part of the reunited Synod 17 years later. Ezra Hall Gillett writes of some of these men in The Men and Times of the Reunion of 1758 (1868). That was a happier year than 1741. The rupture that happened after the Protestation had been building for years, and both sides were to blame, as Gillett says. In reviewing the protesters, on both sides, we are reminded that all men fall short of the divine standard of holiness, love and long-suffering that ought to be characteristic of believers. The history of the Presbyterian church affords many examples of division; happily, in this case, a great reunion followed.

* S. Donald Fortson III, ed., Colonial Presbyterianism: Old Faith in a New Land, p. 158

Jenny Geddes' Day

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It was in the month of July—a month since become so memorable in the history of human freedom—on the twenty-third day of the month, that Jenny emerged from domestic obscurity to historic celebrity and renown.

From the pen of Wiliam Pratt Breed we have a reminder of an historical event of great importance to Presbyterians and all lovers of civil and ecclesiastical liberty. When authorities attempted on July 23, 1637, at St. Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh to impose the Book of Common Prayer upon the Presbyterian people of Scotland, a lady named Jenny Geddes is reputed to have started a riot by throwing her three-legged sitting stool at the prelate who was officiating the service while crying “Villian! dost thou say mass in my lug?” (meaning: “in my hearing”). This incident was pivotal in the ensuing Second Reformation of Scotland, which included the signing of the National Covenant in February 1638 and the purging of Episcopal bishops from the Church of Scotland later that year, as well as the military conflict which followed.

Jenny Geddes.jpg

For a helpful resource on the significance of this event in history, consider Breed’s Jenny Geddes, or, Presbyterianism and Its Great Conflict With Despostism (1869). As he walks the reader through those remarkable events in Scottish history, he highlights the debt that American Presbyterians and all Christians owe to Jenny and other faithful Scots during those troubled but inspiring times. As long as liberty is treasured, Jenny Geddes and her stool will be remembered.

Joseph Bullen was born 270 years ago

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It was on July 8, 1750, in Brimfield, Massachusetts, that pioneer Presbyterian missionary Joseph Bullen was born. He studied at Yale, graduating in 1772, and became pastor of a Congregational church two years later, in Westminster, Vermont. He also worked as a teacher, a miller, and a farmer, and served as a chaplain in the American War of Independence, and later was elected to serve in the Vermont legislature. He and his wife Hannah had nine children.

In 1796, he answered the call of the New-York Missionary Society to serve as a missionary to the Chickasaw Indians in the Mississippi Territory. A charge was given to him in March 1799 by John Rodgers. Later that year, he made his way through wilderness to reach his destination, receiving a letter of safe passage from Chickasaw chief William Colbert. Robert M. Winter writes, “On June 2, 1799, Bullen preached the first sermon in the Chickasaw Nation, also the first Presbyterian sermon in Mississippi” (Outposts of Zion: A History of Mississippi Presbyterians in the Nineteenth Century, p. 10).

This photo shows the reconstructed log cabin church known as the Bayou Pierre Presbyterian Church, at Port Gibson, Mississippi, organized by Joseph Bullen, as it stood in 1807. It was one of several Presbyterian congregations organized by Bullen in …

This photo shows the reconstructed log cabin church known as the Bayou Pierre Presbyterian Church, at Port Gibson, Mississippi, organized by Joseph Bullen, as it stood in 1807. It was one of several Presbyterian congregations organized by Bullen in the Mississippi Territory.

Bullen recorded his experiences in a journal, extracts of which from the year 1800 were published by the New York Missionary Magazine and Repository of Religious Intelligence. He returned to New England briefly and was re-authorized to continue serving as a missionary to the Chickasaw Indians, which he did, organizing a school, and planting churches in the Mississippi Territory. Other missionaries came and, by their combined labors, the Presbyterian Church obtained a foothold in the “Old Southwest.” In 1816, the Presbytery of Mississippi was organized, and Bullen was chosen as its first Moderator. He died on March 26, 1825, and is buried in Jefferson County, Mississippi. Today, we remember his labors on behalf of the kingdom of Christ, especially as the first pioneer Presbyterian missionary in Mississippi.

A.G. Fairchild on What Presbyterians Believe

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For a good basic introduction to some of the major distinctive tenets of 19th century American Presbyterianism, Ashbel Green Fairchild has what you are seeking. In a tract titled “What Presbyterians Believe” he sketches, in opposition to certain caricatures, an outline of what Presbyterians truly affirm that the Bible teaches.

For example, Presbyterians believe that all who are saved are saved by the sovereign grace of God, not of works on the part of believers. Fairchild takes great pains to make clear the plan of salvation, as understood by his church and taught by the Scriptures and the Westminster Confession of Faith.

The Scriptures often make mention of a people as “given to Christ,” as “chosen in him before the foundation of the world,” and as “predestinated unto the adoption of children.” These, and many similar declarations, we regard as intended to teach one of tin most cheering doctrines of the Bible, viz:

THE ELECTION OF GRACE, OR GRATUITOUS ELECTION

After explaining the nature of the fall of man, and how all men, being completely wedded to their sins are totally averse to coming to God, Fairchild shows that God’s mercy toward mankind is immense, purposing from the beginning not to leave all to justly perish, but willing to save some from their sins, despite the unwillingness of any on their own to be saved.

… this determination of the Father, to make a people willing to come to Christ, including in it the means to secure the end, is what we style the election of grace. It was truly a purpose of grace, because its objects were not chosen on account of any goodness foreseen in them. On the contrary, God beheld them as sinners, who but for the interposition of electing love, would never be anything but sinners. He chose them to salvation as the end, and to faith and holiness as the means, and thus their election originated from his own spontaneous mercy.

Speaking further of the plan of salvation, Fairchild addresses a common concern that if God has pre-determined who receives saving grace, such is incompatible with a free offer of the gospel.

Such is the election of grace as it is held in our branch of the Church, and we may see that it perfectly harmonizes with the free unlimited offer of salvation. All are hidden to the gospel feast, because it is the duty of all to come, — because all are alike needy — because there is enough for all, and because all are to be left without excuse. When all refuse the invitation, God interposes to save a “remnant according to' the election of grace.”

Nor is there any force in the objection, “that if a man is elected, he will be saved, do what he may.” For we have seen that the elect are chosen to be saved, not from the punishment of sin merely, but from sin itself. They are chosen to be holy. The objection, then, amounts to this: that if a man is to be saved from sin, he will be saved, whether he be saved from sin or not!

Other objections are addressed by Fairchild:

  • The doctrine of election makes God to be partial (showing favoritism);

  • If election is true, there is no point in making use of the means of grace;

  • If God is sovereign over all, prayer is useless.

With Scripture Fairchild shows that far from these objections having merit, the doctrine of election confirms that God’s mercy is not the outworking of partiality, that God ordains the means of grace as well as the end of salvation, that prayer is part of God’s plan of salvation and has immense importance and purpose.

Fairchild goes on to speak of the perseverance of the saints in holiness. Those whom God has decreed to save will be kept from falling by not being left to their own strength. What a comfort this doctrine is! Our strength will fail, but God’s power to keep his saints, “through faith unto salvation” (1 Pet. 1:5), means that God will be glorified not only by granting us a potential to be saved, but in actually seeing our salvation through until it is finally and fully accomplished.

Then Fairchild affirms another article of the Presbyterian creed — the definite, vicarious atonement of Jesus Christ. That atonement was not sufficient for all, but efficient for none. On the contrary, it is sufficient for all, and efficient for those for whom Christ’s saving work was intended.

It has been said that, on this subject, the point of difference between us and others is, whether Christ died for all? But this is not a. fair statement. We do, indeed deny that Christ died for all, in the sense in which that expression is understood by Arminians; but our Church has always maintained that in respect of the sufliciency and applicability of the Saviour’s sufferings, he may be said to have died for the whole world. The real ground of controversy among those who agree as to the nature of the atonement is, What is its ultimate design? Had the Lord Jesus no definite purpose to save any one? or did he suffer with the intention of saving all men?

We cannot think that Christ had no definite purpose in regard to the objects of his interposition. The Scriptures represent him as coming into the world with a positive intention to save sinners, not merely to render their salvation possible. Nor can we imagine that an all-wise Being would enter upon a work of such unexampled labour and suflering without a precise object to be attained. On the other hand, if we say that Christ intended to save all men, at once the question will arise, Why, then, are not all saved? It will not do to answer by saying, that the divine purpose has been defeated by the unbelief of man. For if God cannot hinder man’s unbelief, the prayers of Christians, and the labours of ministers, are alike useless. If God cannot make sinners willing to come to Christ, who can?

Presbyterians, therefore, deem it safest to conclude that the atonement accomplishes the design of its author, and saves all whom God intended it to save. And this doctrine, so far from being adapted to perplex inquiring sinners, has a most encouraging tendency; for if they are willing to be saved on the terms of the gospel, there must, of necessity, be a divine intention to save them — these two things being connected together in God’s decree. But if they stay away from Christ till they first ascertain what he intends to do with them, they will never come at all.

Besides the unwillingness of mankind to come to God, the inability of man to keep God’s law or to do anything that could accomplish their salvation is another key doctrine of which Fairchild speaks. And here he affirms that man’s inability does not lessen his culpability before God, nor does this doctrine present man as chained down and unable to come to God though desirous to do so. God is glorified in the true state of things wherein though man is unable to save himself or to do any good, God nevertheless enables sinners to come to Christ by faith and implants the desire to do so. “He that worketh in them to will, will not withhold the ability to do. Philip. ii.13.”

Fairchild goes on to address another theological concern - the salvation of those dying in infancy.

Presbyterians are of opinion that those dying in infancy are elect unto salvation. As they are involved in the guilt and misery of the fall, they are appropriate subjects of the divine mercy; and their election secures to them an application of atoning blood, and the renewing influences of the Spirit. Thus, when the Lord Jesus shall “gather his elect from the four winds,” infants will not be left behind.

Our doctrinal opponents dislike this view of the subject, because, if all who die in infancy are elect, then, as they could not have been elected on account of foreseen faith and works, it will follow that fully a third part of our species are saved by unconditional election.

When we speak of infants dying in infancy as elect, we mean that they are chosen out of the whole mass of human beings. Our use of the term, therefore, does not imply that any who die at that tender age are not elected. So when John, addressing the “elect lady,” speaks of her “elect sister” (2 John 13), we do not infer that she had non-elect sisters. In the exercise of his electing love, God had before him the whole race of mankind, not a particular class, age, or sex. And in the opinion of Presbyterians all who die in infancy were included in his purpose of mercy, and selected, along with others, out of the whole family of Adam.

Finally, Fairchild addresses God’s sovereignty over all things, including the evil that happens in this world. Affirming along with the Confession that God is not the author of sin, Fairchild yet explains that the Scriptures do indeed teach that nothing is outside the government of God, even sin. And that this doctrine, which he terms “divine appointment,” stands in contrast to “the gloomy notion of fate” and offers great consolation to believers in the midst of the trials of life.

Indeed, it is a prime principle with Presbyterians, that all the good in the universe proceeds from God; and all the evil from creatures, who act from their own free choice, uninfluenced by any compulsory decree.

We believe that the purposes of God do extend to all events, but not that they extend to all in the same manner. Some things God has purposed to bring to pass by his own agency, and other things, as sinful acts, he has purposed to permit, or suffer to be done by others. And the things which he does by his own agency, and those which he suffers to be done by others, include all that ever come to pass. We may add that this distinction between determinations to do on the part of God, and determinations to suffer sinful acts to be done by others, not only exists in our Confession, but has been taught by all Presbyterian divines from the earliest period.

This tract concludes with an extended quote from Thomas Scott, the English Bible commentator, on the sovereignty of God. It is fitting because the sovereignty of God is at the heart of the doctrines of grace, upon which Fairchild expounds. This distinctive teaching of the Presbyterian Church, based upon the Scriptures, is calculated to humble the pride of man and to exalt the glory of God in all matters, including that of salvation. It is a tract that is well worth the time to read and prayerfully consider.

The Father of the Presbyterian Church in Chile: David Trumbull

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It was on December 25, 1845 that David Trumbull, serving as a missionary under the auspices of the Foreign Evangelical Society and the American Seamen's Friend Society, landed at Valparaiso, Chile to begin the work of proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ to a largely Roman Catholic country. Trumbull officiated at a Protestant worship service held on board his ship, the “Mississippi,” in the harbor on January 4, 1846, another landmark date in the history of Protestantism in Chile. He organized the Protestant non-denominational (later Presbyterian) Union Church in Valparaiso in 1847.

Born in Elizabeth, New Jersey in 1819, Trumbull was raised in a Presbyterian home, studied at Yale University and at Princeton Theological Seminary (known then as the College of New Jersey), and was as a young believer united to the Congregational church. His scholarly attainments are evident in the poetic and literary fragments which he copiously wrote down in his journal. His handwritten notes as a student in Samuel Miller’s class on church history, while not always easy to decipher, are also both a further witness to his learning and to his teacher’s gifts as well. In 1845, he published The Death of Capt. Nathan Hall: A Drama in Five Acts. In all, at Log College Press, we have, courtesy of Princeton Theological Seminary, some 26 volumes of Trumbull’s handwritten journals, along with another five volumes of his wife’s handwritten diary, constituting over 10,000 pages, spanning roughly 50 years, of personal notes, sermons, newspaper clippings, and more that provide fascinating insights into the American missionary who would contribute so much to Chile.

When he arrived in Valpariso, Trumbull was single, but during a return trip to the United States in 1849-1850, he married Jane W. Fitch, who accompanied him back to Chile a month after their wedding. Trumbull never again returned to the U.S., but instead embraced his adopted country Chile. Although the Chilean Constitution at the time enshrined Roman Catholicism as the state religion and forbade any other form of worship, Trumbull had a heart for the Chilean people that led to him caring for their temporal as well as spiritual needs.

Robert Elliott Speer has a chapter about Trumbull in his 1914 volume, Studies of Missionary Leadership: The Smyth Lectures for 1913, Delivered at Columbia Theological Seminary, in which he notes Trumbull’s compassion on those in Chile afflicted by a cholera outbreak. After touching on Trumbull’s strict adherence for the Lord’s Day, Speer writes (p. 205):

But hard fighter as he was for what he believed to be truth, his boundless neighborliness made it hard for anyone to cherish anger against him. A cholera plague broke out. He at once gathered all the contributions he could and gave them to the curé of San Felipe, who sent him the grateful reply: “That God, who has promised to reward the cup of cold water given in his name, may crown you with all good, is my desire.”

Speers tells another story (pp. 203-204) of Trumbull’s battle to give God the glory for sending rain in the midst of drought.

In 1863 there took place the celebrated public discussion between Dr. Trumbull and Mariano Casanova - a discussion deserving notice not so much for itself as for the results it produced. In Chile there is a Saint of Agriculture who guards the fortunes of farmers, giving them rich harvests and sending rain at the appointed times. Since the seasons are fairly regular the good offices of San Isidro are seldom required. Occasionally, however, the rains are delayed, much to the loss of the sower and the distress of the eater. At such times mild measures are used to begin with, and the saint is reminded of his duty by processions and prayers, and placated by offerings. If he still refuses to listen, his statue is banished from his church, even manacled and beaten through the streets. Such scenes take place in Santiago even in our day. In 1863 San Isidro answered the prayers of his devotees with commendable promptitude. Eighteen hours after supplication had been made at his altar rain fell in copious showers. In view of this signal blessing the archbishop called upon the faithful for contributions to repair St. Isidro’s shabby church. It was at this juncture that Dr. Trumbull entered the lists; and in an article entitled “Who gives the rain?” which was published in “La Voz de Chile,” he attacked the practice of saint worship. Casanova replied in “El Ferrocarril,” and the battle was on. Charge and countercharge followed in rapid succession. The affair got into the provincial papers and was discussed all over the country. San Isidro and rain became the question of the day; and at last Casanova withdrew from the field, routed foot and horse.

As a result of this discussion Dr. Trumbull became the acknowledged champion of Protestantism in Chile. The progressive party at once recognized in him a powerful ally; while the ultramontanes saw in him a dangerous foe. His sphere of influence now extended beyond the local church of which he was pastor to the country at large, and he took his place among the leaders of national reform.

Among his many and varied labors to contribute to the advancement of Christ’s kingdom and the good of Chile was the establishment of a Spanish-language Bible society, the founding of several schools, and newspapers which he edited and to which he contributed. In the political arena, he persuaded the government to amend the Constitution to allow at first for privately-held Protestant worship, as well as civil marriage and burial for Protestant dissenters (previously Protestants were buried at a dumping ground outside of Valparaiso, for example, or sometimes at sea). Such reforms reflected not only a desire to bring about freedom for Protestants, but also a spirit that sought to lift up all Chileans. Trumbull recounts some of these civil advances in his 1883 lecture on The Constitutional History of Chile. In 1886, he was granted citizenship by the government of Chile. He united officially with the Presbyterian Church in the early 1870s.

After his death on February 1, 1889, he was honored within Chile as a leading reformer of society, and a good and honorable man. He is buried in the Dissenters’ Cemetery in Valparaiso, where a monument marks the spot and tells of his status as both a missionary and hero of Chilean society. His legacy is remembered by the people of Chile, and especially by the Protestants who are able to assemble for public worship in part because of his efforts over a missionary ministry of forty-four years.

In a sermon preached on March 16, 1884 from Rom. 1:1 (“A servant of Jesus Christ”) titled “How to Spend Life Looking Unto Christ” (available to read on his page from the 1884 volume of his newspaper The Record), Trumbull told his hearers: “Serve Christ and your life cannot prove useless. Many feel they are doing no good in the world for themselves, nor for any one else, and it may be so; but it will not be so for any who will give their hand to Jesus to serve him.” The challenges and discouragements that he faced in a missionary field in which public Protestant worship was initially illegal and excited intense opposition must have weighed on him greatly. Change did not happen quickly, but over time, the Lord blessed his labors, and made him a useful, indeed eminent, servant of Jesus Christ. By the time he laid aside his earthly ministry, Protestants could finally worship freely, get married and be buried with respect. The Spirit of God, and His Word, working through a humble servant, and his family, and co-laborers, accomplished much in a country that was in great need.

While not all of his writings are yet available to read at Log College Press, we do have much both in his own hand and among his published works, to read. His life and career as a pioneer missionary is a testimony to service to God and to the country of Chile. We are glad to honor David Trumbull at Log College Press, and to make him more accessible to 21st century readers. To God be the glory!

A letter from Caledonia, and more by Archibald Stobo

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As one of three ministers from Scotland who helped to promote the spiritual interests of the settlers who founded the colony of Caledonia, or New Caledonia, on the Isthmus of Panama in the late 1690s, Archibald Stobo and his colleagues dispatched a letter to the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland dated February 2, 1700 giving an account of the colony shortly before it was abandoned the following month. It was primarily authored by the famous Covenanter minister Alexander Shields, signed by each minister of the newly-formed Presbytery of Caledonia, and reproduced in Francis Borland’s account of what is now known as the Darien Scheme, or Expedition. We have added this letter to Stobo’s page on Log College Press recently. Also included by Borland is an extract from Stobo’s letter to Borland which briefly gives an account of the famous storm that caused Stobo to be stranded in Charleston, South Carolina, where he took up his home and embraced a life in America, never to return to Scotland. Alexander Shields also never made it home to Scotland, having died of the “malignant fever” at Port Royal, Jamaica in 1700 [this writer once lived there, but Shields’ grave is unmarked]. So Borland’s memoir of the Darien expedition is a most important resource.

These first-hand accounts from Stobo and friends are valuable to students of both church history and world history. As we have noted before, Stobo was involved in both the founding of 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.

Also of note on his page is the affidavit that he and Reformed Baptist William Screven signed in 1705 in case involving the Anglican suppression of Protestant dissenters in 1704, a subject which Daniel Defoe wrote about.

We know of additional writings by Stobo and hope to add more in the future. Meanwhile, take time to read of Stobo’s experiences in Caledonia and Charleston. He is a pioneer Presbyterian that we are glad to highlight here at Log College Press.

P.P. Flournoy's address at the Old Tennent Church

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Almost 120 years ago, on June 14, 1900, Presbyterians assembled at the Old Scots Burying Ground in Marlboro Township, New Jersey and at the nearby Old Tennent Church for the unveiling of the “Presbyterian Historical Monument,” built near the place of John Boyd’s burial to commemorate the first first Presbytery in America. The details of this event can be found in the 2nd (1904) edition of Frank R. Symmes, History of the Old Tennent Church.

The “Presbyterian Historical Monument” at the Old Scots Burying Ground, Marlboro, New Jersey.

The “Presbyterian Historical Monument” at the Old Scots Burying Ground, Marlboro, New Jersey.

Addresses were given by several ministers and others, among whom was Parke Poindexter Flournoy, who spoke on the topic of “Presbyterians Before First Presbytery.” We have touched on this chapter of history before in a previous post titled The First Hundred Years of American Presbyterian History. Rev. Flournoy’s address was reprinted in the July 11, 1900 issue of The Central Presbyterian, and it has been added to his page on Log College Press recently.

His address, which is not lengthy, focuses on two ministers (Francis Doughty, Jr. and Matthew Hill) and three ruling elders (William Durand, Nianian Beall, and William Stevens). These are pioneers of American Presbyterianism that student of church history should know, although there are gaps in our knowledge of the details of their lives. Flournoy gives credit to Charles Augustus Briggs for the invaluable historical research he did in bringing to light, for example, Matthew Hill’s correspondence with Richard Baxter, adding that “Before Dr. Briggs took another path, he was a most efficient investigator of the facts of early American Presbyterianism.” Doughty and Hill predate the arrival of Francis Makemie, who is known to history as “the Father of American Presbyterianism” and, in fact, helped pave the way for his successful labors along the East Coast, and specifically, on the Eastern Shore of Virginia and Maryland.

Flournoy tells us in his concluding remarks:

… we have seen that there were Presbyterians before the first Presbytery; and I would claim the unseen foundation stones beneath the soil as the memorial of the long unknown, and still but little known, ministers, ruling ciders and good people who laid the foundation on which the first Presbytery was builded — for Francis Doughty and Matthew Hill, the faithful and earnest ministers; for William Durand, Ninian Beall and William Stevens, the ruling | elders; and for the “loving and willing people” of whom Hill tells, and for those companies of French [Huguenots, or] Presbyterians, the fellow-countrymen of Calvin, among whom were my own ancestors, who endeared such cruelties on the blood-stained soil of France, and contributed so largely to the establishment of civil and religious liberty in free America.

Take time to read this 120 year-old address by Parke P. Flournoy and learn more about the early American Presbyterian pioneers who helped lay the foundation for America’s first Presbytery in 1706.