Departing from the calendar today [off by exactly one month!], I’m sharing something of which I was reminded earlier today. I trust this will be of some interest:

Q. 1.   Who made you ?
A.  God.
Q. 2.  What else did God make ?
A.  God made all things.
Q. 3.   Why did God make you and all things ?
A.  For his own glory.

So begins the Children’s Catechism, a work intended to serve as an introduction to theWestminster Shorter Catechism.  The author of the Children’s Catechism, as it turns out, was Joseph Patterson Engles, a man almost entirely unknown today, though his Catechism remains in print and widely used.  Engles authored several catechetical helps, but this one work alone remains in use to this day.

He was the son of Silas and Annie Patteson Engles, born in Philadelphia on 3 January 1793. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1811 and was subsequently appointed co-master of a Grammar school which operated under the auspices of the University.  In 1817 he began working alongside the Rev. Dr. Samuel B. Wylie in the operation of an academy, remaining at that post for another twenty-eight years after Wylie’s departure.  In February 1845, Engles was elected by the Board of Publications of the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A. to serve as Publishing Agent.  He is also noted as having faithfully served as an elder in the Scots Presbyterian Church up until the time of his death on 14 April 1861.  Nevin’s Encyclopedia comments that “He was a gentleman of varied literary acquirements, and of signal affability and kindness.  The spiritual element of his character was pre-eminent; it entered into his daily life and walk, it permeated all he said and did; to visit the widow and the fatherless, and keep himself unspotted from the world, was his earnest desire, and fully was it realized.”
[to date, I have not been able to locate a portrait or photograph of Mr. Engles]

Earlier today a patron of the PCA Historical Center asked about the Introduction to The Children’s Catechism, also written by Engles.  In turn it seemed appropriate to open with the above brief biographical sketch.  Here now is the text of the Introduction:

TO PARENTS AND TEACHERS.

You have an awfully responsible office in being entrusted with the training of immortal spirits for the service of God on earth and for glory in heaven. The temporal welfare and  the  eternal salvation not only of your own children, but of future generations, may depend upon your faithfulness in the discharge of this duty. The prosperity, and even the continuance, of the church of God on earth are connected with the religious education of the rising generation.  To aid you in this all-important task the following little work has been written, and is humbly offered to your acceptance. Brevity and conciseness have been studied in the composition of it as far as the nature of the subjects treated of would allow. But much of the benefit to be derived from this work will depend on the judgment and care exercised in the use of it. Without these requisites even the words of inspiration may be perverted to convey defective or erroneous views of truth ; and with them even an imperfect work like the present may be made a “ light to the feet and a lamp to the path” of your interesting charge.  Be admonished then to enter on this “work of faith and labor of love” “with diligence, preparation and prayer.” Endeavor to impress the minds of the dear children with the importance of understanding what they learn. Be not satisfied with the verbal accuracy of their answers.  Encourage them to ask and be ready to answer questions for information, while you gently check a spirit of idle curiosity. Endeavor to make what most children consider an irksome task a pleasing and profitable study. Be not discouraged nor chafed in your minds if you find that “ line upon line and precept upon precept” are required to overcome the dullness or heedlessness of your youthful disciples.  Remember the words of the divine Teacher, who, when inviting sinners to become his disciples, said, “ Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart.” And emulate the spirit of the pious mother who, when asked by a witness of her patience and successful perseverance in the instruction of one of her children, “ How could you repeat that sentence to the child twenty times?” answered, “If I had repeated it only nineteen times I should have lost my labor.”
Acting thus in the spirit of faith and prayer, you shall in due time reap the fruit of your labors, and when your heads are laid low in the dust your children shall rise up and call you blessed.

A Man of Genius and Eloquence
by David T. Myers

The minister showed up at the door of his new congregation in Philadelphia, only to find the door locked, obviously by some dissenters who did not like the fact that the majority of the congregation had called this new preacher.  The dissenters were primarily opposed to his stance on the New Side – Old Side schism, then in full swing in the infant Presbyterian denomination.  He stood solidly on the New Side.  Eventually, some of his supporters threw him into the sanctuary through an open window.  What a beginning to a ministry!  But it was in this way that the Rev. George Duffield began his long pastorate at the Pine Street Presbyterian Church, where he was to remain there until his death on February 2, 1790.

George Duffield was educated first at Newark Academy in Delaware.  He followed that  with training at the College of New Jersey (now Princeton), graduating in 1752.  A personal study in theology, under Dr. Robert Smith, of Pequea, Pennsylvania, came next in his years of ministerial preparation.  Ordination to ministry in the Presbyterian Church enabled him to serve three churches in central Pennsylvania, namely, Carlisle, Newville, and Dillsburg.  After the last congregation he was called in 1771 to the Pine Street Presbyterian church in Philadelphia.  It was to be his greatest work.

The national issues of independence from England were on the horizon.  George Duffield set his ministry in support of liberty from tyranny.  So vocal was he that eventually the church became known as “The Church of the Patriots.”  When the first chaplain to the newly formed Continental Congress went over to the British side, the Congress named two chaplains to replace him.  One was an Anglican pastor, and the other George Duffield.  He would serve alongside the Anglican pastor as well as serving as chaplain of a Pennsylvania regiment in the war for Independence.

Such attachment to Revolutionary ideals would not go unnoticed by the British occupational forces in Philadelphia.   They placed a price on his head, thereby putting him in great danger.   The Pine Street Presbyterian building  was turned into a hospital, with the pews being burned for warmth of the British wounded inside of it.  Then it was made into a stable for their animals.  The greatest insult of all came when one hundred deceased Hessian (German mercenaries serving the British army) soldiers were buried in the church cemetery of Pine Street Presbyterian.

During the war, Duffield counseled and comforted founding father George Washington with Scriptural truth.  After the war, Duffield returned to Pine Street Presbyterian to rebuild and continue his ministry.  John Adams, after hearing him one Sunday, told his wife that Duffield was “a man of genius and eloquence.”

He was married first to Elizabeth Blair, who died in 1757.  Two years later, he married Margaret Armstrong.  Among his descendants were two others named George Duffield, each of whom continued serving both Church and nation as Presbyterian clergy.  George Duffield died in Philadelphia.

Words to Live By:
Taking a stand for God and country has its own perils.  But if the cause is right and biblical, then it is worth the cost.  Our times are in His hands.

The Last Days of Jesus
by David T Myers

On this date, February 1, Thomas V. Moore was born in Newville, Pennsylvania in 1818. And for our post on this same date in 2014, Wayne Sparkman wrote an excellent biography of his life and ministry in these United States and later the Confederate States of America. Our readers are urged to read that account to get an understanding of his times in the Presbyterian church, both north and south. My fellow author of these posts spoke of him being “a prolific author,” and it is to that description that I would like to write on This Day in Presbyterian History.

One of his books is entitled The Last Days of Jesus. Written in 1858, it is an account of the appearances of our risen Lord during the forty days between the Resurrection and Ascension.

Consider his excellent summary of what little Scripture reveals of the actual scene of the resurrection of our Lord. He writes:

“The question may naturally be asked, Why . . . were the death and the ascension made to occur in the presence of witnesses, whilst the resurrection, an event that is declared to lie at the foundation of the whole system of Christianity, was witnessed by none? Why did not Christ rise in the presence of a crowd, as he had died, and thus compel their belief in his divine mission, and their recognition of his claims as Messiah?

“It might be sufficient to reply, that it is no part of the scheme of redemption to compel belief, and that we have no right to expect or demand more than sufficient evidence to warrant belief. But there is another reason usually overlooked, that has no small force. Whether is it so arranged for this special purpose, we will not affirm. But it is obvious that, by this arrangement, this fundamental fact of the Christian system, in which all have exactly the same interest, comes to all with exactly the same proof.

“The women were called to believe it on the testimony of the angels, the disciples on the testimony of the women, and the world on the testimony of the disciples. The women had subsequent corroboration of the testimony of the angels, the disciples of theirs, and we of the disciples; but in each case, the first demand to believe is on the same ground, the testimony of competent witnesses, and not ocular demonstration. All are placed on the same level.”

Then Pastor Moore goes on in the rest of the paperback book to look specifically at each of the resurrection appearances of our crucified, buried, and risen Savior. His chapter on Peter drives the nail into spiritual backsliders that are so numerous in many a community of our nation. The successive steps of the backslider are: 1. Unsubdued will; 2. Undue self-confidence; 3. Neglect of prayer; 4. Neglect of warnings; 5. Following Christ afar off; 6. And Tampering with temptation. All of these were found in the apostle Peter, and in many a modern professing Christian as well.

There is much to commend to both pastors and people in the chapters of this little book by TV. Moore. With it being out of print, check with your Reformed booksellers. They might still have copies on their shelves. Ask your pastors or fellow members if they have a copy, or a church library. A meditation of the last days of Jesus never goes out of date in our devotions of our crucified and risen Lord and Savior. And we have T.V. Moore to thank for his studies on this important theme.

Note: The Last Days of Jesus had been reprinted by The Banner of Truth Trust, but it appears to be out of print at this time. If any of our readers know of an edition currently in print and available, please let us know.