Robert Lewis Dabney (1820-1898)
Robert Lewis Dabney designed the construction of this building in 1850, and served as pastor of Tinkling Spring Presbyterian Church in Fishersville, Virginia from 1852 to 1857.
Display at Tinkling Spring Presbyterian Church in Fishersville, Virginia (photo credit: R. Andrew Myers).
Dabney’s books on display at Tinkling Spring Presbyterian Church in Fishersville, Virginia (photo credit: R. Andrew Myers).
Historical marker for the Old Briery Presbyterian Church in Briery, Virginia.
Robert Lewis Dabney owned the Red Hill Farm in Amherst County, Virginia from 1869 to 1898.
Historical marker located at the Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Austin, Texas.
Robert Lewis Dabney is buried at Union Theological Seminary Cemetery, Hampden Sydney, Virginia.
The Moral Character of Slavery: Letter No. 1 (1851)
The Moral Character of Slavery: Letter No. 2 (1851)
The Moral Character of Slavery: Letter No. 3 (1851)
The Moral Character of Slavery: Letter No. 4 (1851)
The Moral Character of Slavery: Letter No. 7 (1851)
The Moral Character of Slavery: Letter No. 8 (1851)
The Moral Character of Slavery: Letter No. 9 (1851)
The Moral Character of Slavery: Letter No. 10 (1851)
The Moral Character of Slavery: Letter No. 11 (1851)
Principles of Christian Economy (1852)
Uses and Results of Church History (1854, 1891)
Relations of Our Theological Seminaries to Our System of Church Government (1855)
Relations of the Seminaries to the General Assembly (1855)
Sabbath Rail-Way Trains — To the Presbyterian Stockholders and Directors in Railway Companies (1855)
The Gospel Idea of Preaching (1855)
A Memorial of the Christian Life and Character of Francis S. Sampson, D. D. (1855)
Francis S. Sampson, A Critical Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews (1856)
Popish Literature and Education (1856)
The Sabbath Controversy (1857)
Morality of the Legal Profession (1859)
The Changes Proposed in Our Book of Discipline (1859)
Fiction, No Defence of Truth: or, A Review of Theodosia Earnest (1859)
What is a Call to the Gospel Ministry? (1859, 1861)
April 20, 1861 Letter to S.J. Prime (1861)
The Interests of Education (1861)
The Happy Service (1861, 1896)
Tried, But Comforted (1863, 1903)
The Christian Soldier: A Sermon Commemorative of the Death of Abram C. Carrington (1863)
True Courage: A Discourse Commemorative of Lieut. General Thomas J. Jackson (1863)
A Memorial of Lieut. Colonel John T. Thornton (1864)
Life of Lieut.-Gen. Thomas J. Jackson (Stonewall Jackson), Vol. 1 (1864)
Life of Lieut.-Gen. Thomas J. Jackson (Stonewall Jackson), Vol. 2 (1866)
Sketches of Gen. Jackson (1866)
The Christian’s Duty Towards His Enemies (1866)
Life and Campaigns of Lieut.-Gen. Thomas J. Jackson, (Stonewall Jackson) (1866)
The Crimes of Philanthropy (1866)
A Defence of Virginia, and Through Her, of the South (1867)
The Matron of Old Virginia (1867)
Industrial Combinations (1868)
The Partisanship of The “Spectator” (1868)
Dr. Dabney's Reply to General Early (1869)
Memorial on Theological Education (1869, 1891)
The Doctrinal Various Readings of the New Testament Greek (1871)
Memoir of the Rev. Samuel B. McPheeters, D.D. (1871)
The Presbyterian Reunion, North (1871)
The Bible Its Own Witness (1871, 1888)
Systematic Theology (1871, 1878)
What I Saw of the Battle of Chickahominy (1872)
Theology of the Plymouth Brethren (1872)
Stonewall Jackson: A Lecture Delivered in Baltimore, in November, 1872 (1872, 1883)
Peculiar Religious Opinions of Southern Freedmen (1873)
Hodge’s Systematic Theology (1873)
The Caution Against Anti-Christian Science Criticised by Dr. Woodrow (1873)
Memoirs of General W.T. Sherman (1876)
The Pan-Presbyterian Alliance (1876)
The Negro and the Common School (1876)
The State Free School System Imposed Upon Virginia by the Underwood Constitution (1876)
The Philosophy of Dr. Bledsoe (1876)
The Sensualistic Philosophy of the Nineteenth Century Considered (1876)
Reason and Understanding (1877)
Wilson’s Slave Power in America (1877)
Dr. Bledsoe’s Philosophy of Volition (1877)
The Popular Arguments Against Endless Punishment Unsatisfactory as a Sure Ground of Hope (1878)
God’s Indiscriminate Proposals of Mercy as Related to His Power, Wisdom, and Sincerity (1878)
The Bible-Revision Committees (1879)
The Public Preaching of Women (1879)
The Sabbath of the State (1880)
An Examination of the Leading Points of the System of Alexander Campbell (1880)
Popular Education as a Safeguard For Popular Suffrage (1880)
September 21, 1880 Letter (1880)
Dr. Alexander and Immersionism (1881)
The Influence of the German University System on Theological Literature (1881)
The General Assembly of 1881 (1881)
The Revised Version of the New Testament (1881)
The Huguenots and Human Rights (1881)
Professor W. Robertson Smith (1882)
“Oh! You Are a Pessimist!” (1882)
Review of Jefferson Davis, The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government (1882)
The Christian Sabbath: Its Nature, Design and Proper Observance (1882)
What is Inductive Demonstration? (1883)
The New South: A Discourse (1883)
The Nature of Physical Causes and Their Induction (1883)
Doctrine of Original Sin (1884)
Army Sermons or Discourses (c. 1885)
Symposium on the “New Theology”: What Are Its Essential Features? Is It Better Than the Old? (1886)
The Christian Womans Drowning Hymn: A Monody (1886, 1897)
General T.J. Jackson: An Elegy (1887, 1897)
An Open Letter to the Members of the Southern Presbyterian Church (1887, 1906)
Spurious Religious Excitements (1887)
Anti-Biblical Theories of Rights (1888)
Review of Girardeau's Instrumental Music in Public Worship (1889)
The Latest Infidelity: A Reply to Ingersoll’s Positions (1890)
The Texas Brigade at the Wilderness (1890, 1897)
Discussions (Theological and Evangelical), Vol. 1 (1890)
The Truth of History: An Open Letter From Dr. R.L. Dabney to Dr. J. William Jones (1891)
Discussions (Evangelical), Vol. 2 (1891)
The Depression of American Farming Interests (1892)
The Immortality of the Soul (1892)
Discussions (Philosophical), Vol. 3 (1892)
The Attractions of Popery (1894)
Reminiscences of John Randolph (1894)
The Five Points of Calvinism (1895)
Review of The Woman-Suffrage Movement in the United States (1896)
Discussions (Secular), Vol. 4 (1897)
The Practical Philosophy (1897)
Of Expounding the Parables (1897)
The Decline of Ministerial Scholarship (1897)
Sterrett’s “Power of Thought” (1897)
Lines Written on the Illness of His Granddaughter (1897, 1903)
Christ Our Penal Substitute (1898)
The Rev. Robert Lewis Dabney, D.D., LL.D. (1898)
Francis S. Sampson, D.D. (1898)
Reminiscences of Jacob Henry Smith (1898)
In Memoriam: Robert Lewis Dabney (1899)
The Life and Letters of Robert Lewis Dabney (1903)
Robert Lewis Dabney — The Conservative (1924)
Richmond Enquirer, April 29, 1851.
Richmond Enquirer, April 29, 1851.
Richmond Enquirer, May 2, 1851.
Richmond Enquirer, May 2, 1851.
Richmond Enquirer, May 9, 1851.
Richmond Enquirer, May 16, 1851.
Richmond Enquirer, May 16, 1851.
Richmond Enquirer, May 23, 1851.
Richmond Enquirer, May 30, 1851.
Courtesy of Ryan Douthat, Union Presbyterian Seminary (Richmond, VA) Library.
Co-authored by William H. McGuffey.
This 4-part article appeared in the April, May, June and July issues of The Land We Love.
This is a 3-part article that appeared in the November 20 & 27 and December 4, 1867 issues of the Central Presbyterian. However, only the first 2 parts are available here. Thomas C. Johnson writes that this article “was in reality a tribute to his mother” (The Life and Letters of Robert Lewis Dabney, p. 318).
This lecture was published in the February-March and April-May 1883 issues of the Southern Historical Society Papers.
Four letters to the Richmond Enquirer by R.L. Dabney dated April 18, April 22, April 25, and May 4, 1876.
This 2-part article appeared in the July and October 1877 issues of The Southern Presbyterian Review.
This article appeared in the September 1879 issue of The Princeton Review.
This article appeared in the September 1880 issue of The Princeton Review.
This 2-part article appeared in November 9 & 16, 1881 issues of The Central Presbyterian.
(Mostly) unpublished autograph manuscript - source: Union Presbyterian Seminary Library Digital Collections.
1. Sermon I. "A Warning Against Secular Prosperity. A sermon preached, to a great assemblage, in the 2nd Presbyterian Church of Richmond, Va, Feb 21st 1858. The day before the inauguration of the Washington Monument of Va. on Deuteronomy XXXII.15: 'Then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.' (With reference to the whole passage, from v. 12 to v. 16.)"
2. Sermon III. "The Christian Philosopher : An Expository Sermon on Phillippians [sic] IV. 4-7. Preached at Camp Lee, near Richmond Va, by moonlight; to a number of volunteers, May, 1861. Preached in Charlottesville Va, May 1877."
3. Sermon V. [This sermon was evidently published in the newspaper Watchman and Observer, from which Dabney has taken clippings and added new material to form the document.] "Encouragements to Prayer. A Sermon Preached to the 18th Regiment. Va. Volunteers, in their camp, within the Entrenchments of Manassa's [sic] Junction. June, 1861. On Luke 18th. 7. 8. 'And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry long unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily.'"
4. Sermon VI. "Our Ineffectual Prayers : A Sermon on James IV: 3rd. 'Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss.' Preached near Mossy Creek, Augusta, Va. May 1862, to the 44th Va. Regiment." On a slip of paper found with the sermon is written: "Preached in Charlottesville July 1877." The manuscript includes this Note: "After the battle of McDowell, and the pursuit of Milroy and Schenk, Gen. Jackson returned by forced marches to effect his junction with Gen. Ewell, and to pay his respects to Banks. The point to which his march first tended was Harrisonburg. The Sabbath found him near the village of Mt. Solon, on Mossy Creek, and there, although most eager to husband every moment, he paused, amidst the luxuriant fields and majestic groves of that beautiful region, to give the troops their day of sacred rest. The Sabbath proved to be one of unrivalled mildness and beauty. The author, the chief of Gen. Jackson's staff, accompanied by him, went in the forenoon to preach in the camp of the famous 12th Georgia Regiment, then without a Chaplain. In the afternoon, he passed to the opposite extremity of the encampments, and delivered the following discourse to the 44th Va."
5. Sermon VII. "Spurious and Genuine Repentance Contrasted. A Sermon Preached within the Entrenchments at Manassa's [sic] Junction, to the 18th Regiment of the Volunteers, July 1861. From II. Corinthians, 7:10. 'For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation, not to be repented of; but the sorrow of the world worketh death.'"
6. Sermon VIII. "The Immediate Decision. A Sermon on I Kings 18:21. 'And Elijah came unto all the people and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? If the LORD be God, follow him : but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.' Preached to the 18th Regiment, Va. Volunteers, in their encampment at Centreville, Fairfax County, July 1861." On the reverse of page 22 : "Preached at Univ of Va. April 1871. Amherst C.H. July 1871. at Do. July 1875. at Richmond Ky, June 1875. Asheville N.C. June 1882." This note indicates that the sermon collection was compiled by Dabney after 1882, even though the original dates of composition were much earlier.
7. Sermon X. "The Happy Service : An Expository Sermon on Matthew. XI. 28-30. 'Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.' Preached in the camp of the 18th Regiment, Va. Volunteers, at Centreville, Fairfax Co. Va. August, 1861. [illegible] 1866." An unknown hand has crossed out the sentence beginning "Preached in." There are editing marks in pencil on the first page written by an unknown person. Pages of this manuscript are deteriorated and the ink is faint.
8. Sermon XIII. "Procrastination. A Sermon on Prov. 27:1. 'Boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.' Preached to the 2nd Va. Brigade, Jackson's Division, Sabbath, April 26th 1862, in Swift Run Gap. Rockingham, Va."
9. Sermon XIV. "Publick Calamities Caused by Publick Sins. A Sermon on Isaiah IX. 12.13. 'For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. For the people turneth not to him that smiteth them, neither do they seek the Lord of Hosts.' Preached May 12th 1862 in the meadows near Franklin, Pendleton Co. Va, to Poagues Battery of Artillery." On a strip of paper found with the sermon is written : "At Winchester Ky. July 1875." The manuscript includes this note : "On the Monday after the battle of McDowell, the Sabbath having been employed in the pursuit of Milroy and Schenck, Genl Jackson granted his soldiers the half of Monday as a season of rest, and issued the following order. 'Soldiers of the Army of the Valley and North West, I congratulate you on your recent victory at McDowell. I request you to unite with me, this morning, in thanksgivings to Almighty God, for thus having crowned your arms with success; and in praying that He will continue to lead you on from victory to victory, until your independence shall be established; and make us that people whose God is the Lord. The Chaplains will hold divine service at 10 o Cl. A.M. this day in their respective regiments.' The author having been invited by Poague's battery, composed of gentlemen from Rockbridge County, who had no chaplain, to preach for them, availed himself of this opportunity. The men were assembled in the verdant meadow of the South Branch, beside a cluster of haystacks, and there were present in addition, Genl Jackson and his Staff, Genl F.H. Smith of the Military Institute, and a distinguished group of officers; when the following sermon was delivered."
10. Sermon XV. "God's Eminent Mercy. A Sermon on Psalm. 108:4. 'For thy mercy is great above the heavens.' Preached in the Stonewall Brigade, June 15th 1862, near Mt Meridian, Augusta County, Va." The manuscript begins with a lengthy Note describing the circumstances of two battles near Harrisonburg and at Port Republic, and a period of rest and worship in which there was preaching and the Lord's Supper. The deaths of Hugh White, Randolph Fairfax and "the heroick Ashly" are mentioned.
11. Sermon XVIII. "Faith. An Expository Sermon. on Roman's. [sic] X. 6-19. 'But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise; Say not in the heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above.) 7. Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) 8. But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart; that is, the word of faith which we preach: 9. That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10. For with the heart, man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.' Preached September 1863. at Orange Court House, Va. to an assemblage of officers and men, belonging to the 2nd Corps, Army of N. Va."
12. Sermon XIX. "The Bondage of Sin. A Sermon. on Acts. VIII. 23rd 'Thou art ...... in the bond of iniquity.' Preached in the Tabb Street Church, Petersburg, Va. February 1865. to an assemblage of soldiers and citizens."
Written in December 1886.
Courtesy of Ryan Douthat, Union Presbyterian Seminary (Richmond, VA) Library.
Written in 1897.
Dr. Dabney’s reminiscences begin at p. 55.
Courtesy of Lloyd Sprinkle.
