His Success Astonished Many
by Rev. David T. Myers

Enter an English Quaker into the celebrated Log College in the seventeen hundreds, and what comes out?  The answer is a Presbyterian evangelist.

His name was William Robinson.  We don’t know much about his early days, but coming to America, he settled in Hopewell, New Jersey as a school teacher. While doing teaching, he began to study at William Tennent’s Log College, where he was recruited to  Presbyterianism. Ordained as an evangelist by the Presbytery of New Castle, he was sent into Hanover County, Virginia.  It was on July 6, 1743 that his voice became the first Presbyterian voice to proclaim the unsearchable riches of Christ in that district.  He continued to North Carolina, where he spent the winter season that year.  Everywhere he went, he enjoyed great success with his spiritual gift of evangelism.

Returning to the eastern parts of the colonies, he arrived at the eastern shore of Maryland where, by the preaching of the Word of God, a great revival occurred under his ministry.  The Synod of New York of the Presbyterian Church desired that he come their way, but he desired to go to St. George’s, Delaware, where a previous revival had occurred under his ministry.  It was there that the Lord of providence took him home on August 1, 1746.

He left his ministerial library to Samuel Davies, urging that this latter preacher take up the work in Virginia.  He did, and became known as the Apostle of Virginia.  But it was William Robinson, who prepared the way with his ringing declarations of the gospel to Virginians.  No wonder Samuel Davies said “That favored man, Mr. Robinson, whose success, whenever I reflect upon it, astonishes me.”

Words to Live By: God always prepares the way for a great work of grace.  We may not know who the person was all the time, but God knows, and will bring great blessings upon both he who prepares and they who follow their ministry.  Indeed, some are called to simply prepare the way. Never think that you are unimportant in the great work of the gospel.  God sovereignly uses whom He will to do His work. Think of who prepared you for any work of grace in your heart, and thank the Lord for them now. Indeed, if you can, thank them in person.

A Casualty of D-Day

The following account comes from THE INDEPENDENT BOARD BULLETIN, Vol. 10, no. 10 (October 1944): 4-7. This was (and is) the newsletter of the Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions.

FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH

In the falling of the Reverend Arthur Johnston Dieffenbacher on the battlefields of Normandy, July 5, 1944, the Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions has lost its first and one of its best missionaries by death. Few details are known even at this writing but in Arthur Dieffenbacher’s passing his family, the Board, China and a host of friends have sustained a very great loss; yet we know that God’s people should view all things from the standpoint of eternity and therefore we can rest assured that God Who knows all things “doeth all things well.”

Arthur Dieffenbacher was born in Titusville, Pa., April 29, 1909; and thus was but a little over thirty-five years of age when the Lord called him home. His early years were spent at Erie, Pa. where he was graduated from high school at the early age of fifteen. Two years of college work at Erie followed, and two years later in 1927 he was graduated from Grove City College. In 1931 he finished his theological education at Dallas Theological Seminary, with a Master’s degree in his possession and also credit toward a post-graduate Doctor’s degree. He had proved himself precocious during his school days, but he was also in advance of his years in the things of the Lord, his deep interest in these things showing itself, for instance, in his spending the first night of his college life away from home in a prayer meeting with a group which was destined to aid him greatly to the clear insight into God’s word which his later years so fully exhibited.

In September, 1932, Mr. Dieffenbacher was appointed a missionary of the China Inland Mission and in company with his intimate friend John Stam, who himself was destined to become a martyr, soon left for China. There, after language study and a brief period of work in Changteh, Hunan Province, he met in 1934 Miss Junia White, daughter of Dr. Hugh W. White, editor of The China Fundamentalist. Miss White and he were soon engaged, but because of illness and other causes they were not married until June 1938, joining at about the same time also and with the good wishes of the China Inland Mission, the Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions with the principles and purposes of which both were in full sympathy.

All the years spent in China were filled with adventure which included a flight from Chinese communists in 1935; and the summer of 1938 saw battles raging all around Kuling where Miss White and Mr. Dieffenbacher had been married. Indeed China had been engaged for a whole year then in the war which was to engulf eventually so many lands and was, for Arthur Dieffenbacher, to end so tragically upon the battlefields of Nor­mandy. On their way from Kuling this young bride and groom had to pass through the battle zone, just behind the fighting lines, but God gave them protection and enabled Arthur even then to point a sore-wounded and dying Chinese lad, a soldier, to Christ as the Lamb of God who was slain for our sins.

This trip led to Harbin, Manchuria, the “Manchukuo” of the Japa­nese, where two years of happy, fruitful work ensued, years which saw the beginning of what despite the hardness of the soil of that great cos­mopolitan city might have developed into a much greater work had it not been for the tyranny of Japan and the war which was so soon to bring to an end so much Christian work both in the Japanese empire and in China. In the testings of those years in regard to Shinto and the Japanese demands upon Christians Arthur and his wife remained faithful.

In the summer of 1940, after eight years in China, Mr. Dieffenbacher returned to America with his wife on furlough. There on June 19, 1941, a little daughter, Sara Junia, was born. As war conditions were gradually spreading it was thought that Mr. Dieffenbacher ought to return alone to Manchuria and so passport and passage were obtained but ere he could sail the events of December 7, 1941, compelled all such plans to be abandoned for the time being, and as it proved in Arthur’s case, forever.

In America Mr. Dieffenbacher proved to be a good and effective mis­sionary speaker. He also rendered efficient aid at his Board’s headquarters in Philadelphia. Later he held a brief pastorate in the Bible Presbyterian Church of Cincinnati, Ohio. But when the American Council of Christian Churches obtained for its member Churches a quota of Army chaplaincies, Mr. Dieffenbacher applied for a chaplaincy and was appointed and joined the Army on July 18, 1943.

In the Army Arthur Dieffenbacher won recognition for two things. For one, he took with his men, for example, the whole system of training including the dangerous and difficult “infiltration” course and other things which were not required of chaplains, but which he did that by all means he might win some. This ambition to win men to Christ was the second notable trait of which we speak. Indeed it showed itself not alone while he was in the Army but also throughout all his life. He always preached to convince, convert and win. On his way to England with his unit he with two other God-fearing chaplains, won eighty-four men to Christ. A brief letter home, mentioning this asked, “Isn’t that great?” Truly it was great and not merely in the opinion of his friends, we believe, but also in the sight of the Lord. Some of his friends are praying that from among those eighty-four after the war some may volunteer to take Arthur Dieffenbacher’s place in China. God is able to bring such things to pass.

The time from April to June 24, 1944, was spent in England. There, too, Arthur Dieffenbacher was constantly on the search for souls and also for that which would bring inspiration to his men and to his family and friends at home. Some of the poems he found and sent home testify at once to his love for good poetry and for the things of the spirit, especially for the things of the Lord. He believed thoroughly that he was in God’s will. He longed to see his wife and child and mother again but assured them that “no good thing would the Lord withhold from them that walk uprightly.” He rejoiced in full houses of soldiers to whom to preach the Gospel of salvation. He was often tired after a long day of duties done, but preached and lived that we are “More than Conquerors” through Christ. With it all he learned to sew on buttons and patches and to wash his own clothes and his good humor bubbled over into his letters when he said, “Oh, boy, you should see the result!” Up at the front large at­tendances at services were the rule, men searching for help, for strength, for God, as they faced the foe. Perhaps a premonition was felt of what was to come. He wrote, “There are so many chances of getting hurt in war or in peace that which one affects you is by God’s permission. Hence I don’t worry, but take all reasonable precautions and trust the rest to God. His will is best and His protection sufficient.” On July 3, he wondered how they would celebrate the Fourth, and knew not that on the morrow of that day he would celebrate humbly but joyfully in the Presence of God. When killed by German artillery fire his body was recovered by his senior chaplain, Chaplain Blitch, and later an impressive funeral service was held.

Words to Live By:
“Faithful unto death” are words which characterized the whole life of Arthur Dieffenbacher. The realization of that fact brings an added meas­ure of consolation to his mother, Mrs. Mildred J. Dieffenbacher, to his wife and will, in time, to his little three-year-old daughter as she comes to understand what her father was and what he did. It brings consolation also to The Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions and to all his friends. But as Arthur Dieffenbacher himself would have been the first to say, all he was and did he owed to Christ in whom he was called, chosen and empowered and made faithful till that day when surely he heard the welcome “well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.”

The Forgotten Founding Father – Even to Presbyterians
by Rev. David T Myers

Who hasn’t heard about our country founding fathers, like George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Hancock, Charles Thompson . . . wait a minute, who? Charles Thompson, who was he?

Answer? He was the forgotten founding father of America, even to Presbyterians. And yet he shouldn’t be, for after all, he was a Christian Presbyterian, a ruling elder in the First Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia.

Born in County Londonderry to John Thompson and his wife, Charles lost his mother in 1739 at age ten, as did all his four brothers and one sister. The father decided to take his family to the American colonies, despite the perilous voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. And indeed, in sight of land, the father died after sickness. Before his breadth expired, his last words were “God take them up,” referring to his children. The captain of the ship coldly slid his body overboard, and took possession of all his money. The children were split up, with Charles being sent to a blacksmith in Delaware.

There are several silences at this point, but the one this author read and found convincing was that he left the blacksmith and was picked up by a woman who took him to her house and home. She in time reared him up and placed him in a school held at New London Presbyterian Church, Pennsylvania, pastored by the Rev. Francis Allison.

This church school was designed chiefly to prepare ministers for Presbyterian churches in the colonies. Its courses were Greek, Latin, English literature, Science, and Math. They hoped that many needed Presbyterian Pastors would graduate from the school, but few did. It did produce five future doctors of medicine, four members of the Continental Congress, four Signers of the Declaration of Independence, five members of the House of Representatives, four governors, and oh yes, one Secretary of the Continental Congress, Charles Thompson.

Charles Thompson, upon graduating, stayed on to teach at the New London School, which eventually became in later years the University of Delaware. After his teaching experience, he went into business, but national affairs brought him to his position as the Corresponding Secretary of the Continental Congress, where he was to stay from 1774 – 1789, During those pivotal years, 342 delegates dealt with national business, while their words were faithfully transcribed by one secretary, Charles Thompson.

On July 4^th, 1776, the first copy of the Declaration of Independence was signed by John Hancock and recorded by Charles Thompson, Secretary. The rest of the signatures were affixed a week later. In addition, he was the designer of the Great Seal of America. And like all the signers, he was to suffer persecution by the British for being connected with that historic document of our nation. His house was burned.

After his political service in the thrilling days of independence, he retired to his house outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to translate the Septuagint into English, a loving labor which took him years to complete. Another biblical work was an arrangement of the four gospels into one continuing biblical story. Both books are still in print today.

Charles Thompson went to be with his Lord and Savior on August 16, 1824. At least to subscribers and readers of This Day in Presbyterian History, forgotten no more.

Words to Live By:
Charles Thompson deserves to be remembered by all Americans, especially American Presbyterians. Parents, share his life story with your family. Home school parents, make him part of your home training. Christian and public school instructors, include him in the history lessons of your pupils. Pastors and Sunday School teachers, let him be illustrations of the providence of God in serving the Lord in government. Let not the title of this post be the norm any longer!

The Presbyterian Patriot
by Rev. David T. Myers

Born in North Ireland, John Haslet was the eldest son of Joseph and Ann Haslet. His father was a Presbyterian well-to-do merchant and tenant farmer. After John finished up his early education in Ulster, he went to Scotland and the University of Glasgow for ministerial training. The Derry Presbytery in 1750 licensed him and later in 1752, ordained him as a teaching elder. Try as I could, I could not find any record of him serving as a pastor or teacher there. He married a Presbyterian minister’s daughter in 1750, but who tragically died in childbirth after birthing their daughter Mary.

North Ireland was desperate for its living conditions, so John moved with his young daughter to the three southern counties of Pennsylvania around 1757, near Milford, Pennsylvania. There he married Jemina Molleston, and with her fathered four children.

It is strangely silent in that there is no record that he served a Presbyterian church or ministry here either. Instead, there must have been some training in the medical field, as he was known as a “doctor” in Pennsylvania.

With the French and Indian War starting, he volunteered to serve as a captain in that war with the Pennsylvania militia. We know that he participated in the Forbes expedition which captured Fort Duquesne in November 1758. Returning to his home in Pennsylvania, two changes occurred which brought him fame.

First, the southern counties of Pennsylvania in 1776 separated from that “state,” and became the new state of Delaware. And second, with the outbreak of the American revolution, now Colonel John Haslet became the commander of a nine hundred Delaware regiment known as the “Fighting Blue Hens.” It would take a courageous and sacrificial role in the Revolutionary battles of Brooklyn, Trenton, and Princeton, for all purposes ceasing to exist in the cause of liberty. It was at the latter battle of Princeton, New Jersey on January 3, 1777 that Colonel Haslet was killed.

It is interesting that he was buried in the cemetery of the First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. The custom then was that no one could be buried in a Presbyterian cemetery except Presbyterians! So his Reformed faith must have stayed with him all during his time in America, even though there is no record of him serving as pastor/teacher of a Presbyterian church.

Delaware as a state recognized his true home in that on this day, July3^rd, 1841, they moved his remains under a military honor guard to the Presbyterian cemetery in Dover, Delaware. There his remains are in an honored position today, as a hero of the state of Delaware.

Words to Live By:
Why our Presbyterian figure honored on this day did not serve his and our Lord Jesus as a Presbyterian pastor or teacher is not known to us. In Scotland, he went to theological seminary, was licensed, and ordained by a Scottish presbytery. What the Presbyterian historical record says here is that he did not serve such a calling, there or here. Yet what he did serve was important so that others could worship and serve the Lord Jesus in Presbyterian churches and agencies in the newly formed country known as America. Let us rejoice in that truth and leave the rest of our questions to our Sovereign God.

A Voice from the Past Still Speaks
by Rev. David T. Myers

Frontispiece portrait of Rev. Miller, in Our New Edens[Volume 8 of The Presbyterian Pulpit, Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Publication and Sabbath-School Work, 1903.

Our subscribers may not have known about this Presbyterian pastor. That was certainly this author’s case. His was a testimony from the past.

Born in 1840 near Frankfort Springs, Pennsylvania to Scot Irish parents, James Russell Miller was the second child of James and Eleanor Miller. Their church background was the United Presbyterian Church, and into this tradition James Miller had his home and church training. At age 14, he, now the eldest child of the family, moved to Calcutta, Ohio. After school training, he progressed to Westminster College in Pennsylvania, from which he graduated in 1862. Believing in his call into the ministry, he entered the theological seminary of the United Presbyterians Church in Allegheny, Pennsylvania. But national affairs – namely the Civil War – interrupted that theological training.

In March 1683, Russell Miller became a Field Agent of the newly formed United States Christian Commission to minister to Union soldiers in that great conflict. He served faithfully his church and country until the end of that national war in 1865.

Returning to seminary, he graduated from Allegheny Seminary in 1867. But there was a change in his religious convictions about exclusive psalm singing, in which he was reared. Able to hold firmly to all other spiritual truths of the United Presbyterian Church, he could not hold to exclusive psalm singing. So he left the church of his childhood and joined the Presbyterian Church USA.

James Miller would serve in five churches as pastor. In every one of them, his proclamation of the Word of God resulted in membership growth. Which teaching and ruling elders today would not be blessed in the membership rolls going up from 75 members to 1200 members, or 66 members going to 1, 397 members? Yet that was the record time and time again in the congregations under his spiritual teaching.

In the midst of all this pastoral relationships, James R Miller was a prolific author of devotional books, many under the oversight of the Presbyterian Board of Publications in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He wrote literally hundreds of books, countless of which can be found online or are still in print.

He would go to the Lord on this Day in Presbyterian History, July 2, 1912.

Words to Live By: Church Sessions in our Presbyterian churches would do well to give their pastors sabbatical time so as to give them the opportunity to edify the wider Christian public with the result of their study in God’s Word. In that way, their ministries can be shared with greater outreach, believers would be edified in greater ways, and God would be glorified all the more. Pray about this, my fellow elders and members!

And to give credit where due to that supporting Session, here below is a photograph of Rev. Miller standing with members of the Session of the St. Paul Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, PA, in 1905:

Lastly, for your reading pleasure, click here to view a list of the many books by Rev. J.R. Miller which can be found on the Internet.