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February 5: John Witherspoon

5 February, 2012 in February 2012 by archivist | 1 comment

This Day in Presbyterian History:    

A Force for God and Country is born

On July 4, 1776, the only clergyman to sign the Declaration of Independence was John Witherspoon, a Presbyterian pastor and educator who was at that time serving as the president of the College of New Jersey (later to become Princeton University).  We will in this year’s historical devotions focus on this man in five separate days because he was  such an effective influence for God and country.

Born February 5, 1723, John Witherspoon would grow up in a church manse in the tiny town of Gifford, Scotland, which was fourteen miles from Edinburgh, Scotland.  We have a scarcity of information about his parents.

His father, the Rev. James Witherspoon, was a Church of Scotland minister who served the parish of Yester from 1720 until his death in 1759. We do know that he attended the denomination’s General Assembly as a delegate, and even preached before that Assembly on one occasion, and was appointed a royal chaplain in 1744.  We have no doubt that like many faithful Scottish pastors, he was eminent for his holiness, learning, and faithfulness.

John’s mother, Ann Walker,  was the daughter of a Presbyterian minister.  She was to bear six children from this union with James, all in the space of ten years.  John Witherspoon later gave credit to his mother for his early religious education in the Bible, reading it through for the first time when he was only four years of age, and later hiding a lot of it in his heart by way of memory. Some historians have concluded that she was a descendant of the Reformer John Knox, while others are unconvinced. Whatever may be said, the training of John Witherspoon began early in the home and continued at the Haddington Grammar School, which had also trained John Knox. Along with secular subjects, the Westminster Shorter Catechism was part of the training at that school. When he left at age thirteen for the University of Edinburgh in 1736, he had a good command of Latin, Greek, and French.  He also had a solid foundation in biblical Christianity.  All of this was to bear him well as he continued preparing for the divine calling which was his in both Scotland, his native country, and in the colonies and United States of America.

Continuing his education in divinity at the University of Edinburgh, Witherspoon was licensed in 1743 and ordained and installed as the minister of the parish of Beith in the Church of Scotland, on April 11, 1745.  He was twenty-two years old.  Two years later,  he married Elizabeth Montgomery.  They would both learn the sorrow connected with  a family when of the ten children which came from this union, only five would survive to adulthood.

This young Church of Scotland minister soon gained a reputation beyond his own parish.  The national body was divided into two splinters composed of the Popular party and the Moderates.  The first was akin to our orthodox party and the latter was akin to the liberals.  The former emphasized the important of the Westminster Standards as a summary of the Scriptures, while the latter group generally ignored the proper place of the Westminster Standards in the church.  Witherspoon was a solid member of the Popular party, and attacked the Moderates in the pulpit and by the pen.  Even in his second pastorate at Laigh Parish, his reputation as an orthodox minister began to expand in Scotland, and extended across the Atlantic to the colonies of America.

[more on Rev. Witherspoon’s story at a later date.]

Words to Live By: God prepares His own people for present and future work.  As Proverbs 16:9 says, “The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.” (ESV)  Remember this as you rear your children in the ways of the Lord.  Commend them into the hands of the Lord at an early age, indeed when they are born is best.  Then everything you do, do so in the Lord’s strength and for His glory.

Through the Scriptures: Exodus 28 – 31

Through the Standards: Divine providence in the Confession

WCF 5:1
“God the great Creator of all things doth uphold, direct, dispose, and govern all creatures, actions, and things, from the greatest even to the least, by His most wise and holy providence, according to His infallible foreknowledge, and the free and immutable counsel of His own will, to the praise of the glory of His wisdom, power, justice, goodness, and mercy.”

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February 4: The Cane Ridge Revival & the Cumberland Presbyterians

4 February, 2012 in February 2012 by archivist | 1 comment

This Day in Presbyterian History:  

Getting up a Revival

We all remember the events which made up the first great awakening in the colonies.  Men like Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, Gilbert Tennent, and New Side Presbyterians took the gospel up the length and breadth of the new land, bringing many to Christ and reviving Christians and churches.  While clearly there were some excesses in emotional outbursts by the people, the essential key in this divine awakening was a stress on total dependence on God’s sovereignty in bringing His elect to Christ.

Fast forward in your thinking to the late seventeen hundreds and early eighteen hundreds. There was a change going on in the country.  Westward expansion had taken place as hundreds of settlers moved to Kentucky and Tennessee.  Specifically, in what is known as the Cumberland Valley of those latter two and later states, Scot-Irish  filled in the population of the area.  What didn’t increase was the number of trained ministers in the Presbyterian church who were able to travel with these westward church members.  All the ingredients of difficulty were present immediately.

First, there were extensive revivals taking place in SW Kentucky and Cane Ridge, Kentucky.  These were continuous meetings, often preached by 7 and 8 ministers of all denominations, with emotionalism running high and seemingly out of control.   It is not that people were not being converted.  They were, but eastern Presbyterians felt that such emotionalism was too man-centered instead of God-centered.

Then, with converts joining the few churches available and starting  others, the issue of educated men to pastor them became the issue.  The College of New Jersey (later called Princeton) was a long way off from these frontier settlements.   The formal practice of their faith failed to comfort the hardships experienced by the early pioneers.  So the local Presbytery of Cumberland proceeded to ordain large numbers of men without education.  Further, these men were allowed to express dissent from the Westminster Standards, especially chapter 3 which dealt with God’s eternal decrees, or predestination.

The Synod of Kentucky, as the next higher church court, demanded that they be allowed to re-examine all of the ordained men of the Cumberland Presbytery, whom they deemed to be without sufficient training for the pastorate.  When the Presbytery refused their request, the Synod dissolved the Presbytery of Cumberland.  Their action dismissing the Presbytery was affirmed by the General Assembly.

» “The Fathers who formed the first Cumberland Presbytery : Ewing, McAdow & King »

On February 4, 1810, four ministers gathered together near present day Burn, Tennessee, and after a night of prayer, these four former ministers of the PCUSA Cumberland Presbytery, reorganized the Cumberland Presbytery as a separate body outside the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A.  Their names were Samuel McAdow, Ephraim McLean, Finis Ewing, and Samuel King.  They were joined by six licentiates and seven candidates for the ministry.  As they drew others into their fold, this Presbytery became the Cumberland Synod in 1813, which in turn became the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in 1829.

The issue of education became muted along the way, as the denomination began to sponsor various colleges, and later established the Memphis Theological Seminary. But the issue of Calvinism has been taken out of the picture altogether in this new church, in that the first four points of the “five points” of Calvinism, namely, total depravity, unconditional election, particular redemption, and efficacious grace is denied by this denomination.  They still hold  to the perseverance of the saints.

A portion of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church re-joined the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. in the early nineteen hundreds, but not all joined, so that there is in existence today a Cumberland Presbyterian Church.

« The last General Assembly of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, meeting in Decatur, Illinois, May 17-25, 1906, as they prepared to merge with the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A..

Also on this day :
Robert Dick Wilson was born this day, February 4, 1856, in Indiana, Pennsylvania.
The Robert Dick Wilson Manuscript Collection is preserved at the PCA Historical Center in St. Louis, Missouri.

Words to Live By: Doctrinal shallowness leads to doctrinal denial.  The whole counsel of God must be proclaimed, letting God’s Spirit  bring people to Himself and training them in doctrine, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness.

Through the Scriptures: Exodus 25 – 27

Through the Standards: Proof Texts for the Confessional Standard’s Treatment of Creation—

Genesis 1:1
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”  (NAS)

Colossians 1:16
“For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities — all things have been created through Him and for Him.” (NAS)

Hebrews 1:1 – 2
“God . . . in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.” (NAS)

Image sources: 1. McDonnold, B.W., History of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Nashville, TN: Board of Publication of Cumberland Presbyterian Church, 1888. Plate facing page 48 ; 2. Journal of the Presbyterian Historical Society, Volume III (1905-1906), plate facing page 301.

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February 3: David Brainerd [1718-1747]

3 February, 2012 in February 2012 by archivist | No comments

This Day in Presbyterian History:  

The Author and Finisher of Faith

We return again to the devotional diary of David Brainerd, the Presbyterian missionary of the middle eighteenth century.  What could account for the zeal which this early missionary showed as he traveled, not by modern conveyance but on  horseback? His travels did not take him by established thoroughfares, but rather on frontier trails through forests and across swollen rivers.  These areas were safe, when you stop to think of it, as hostile forces and wild animals were sure to block his way.  What could prompt an individual to undertake such an arduous journey?

As we look at his diary for February 3, 1744, we ascertain at least several strong reasons for his constant ministry.  Read his words and see if you can glean the answer.  He wrote:

“Enjoyed more freedom and comfort than of late; was engaged in meditation upon the different whispers of the various powers and affections of a pious mind exercised with a great variety of dispensations, and could not but write, as well as meditate on so entertaining a subject.  I hope the Lord gave me some true sense of divine things this day, but alas, how great and pressing are the remains of indwelling corruption!  I am now more sensible than ever, that God alone is ‘the author and finisher of faith,’ i.e. that the whole and every part of sanctification, and every good word, works, or thought, found in me, is the effect of his power and grace, that ‘without him I can do nothing,’ in the strictest sense, and that ‘he works in us to will and to do of his own good pleasure,’ and from no other motives.  Oh! how amazing it is that people can talk so much about men’s power and goodness, when if God did not hold us back every moment, we should be devils incarnate! This is my bitter experience, for several days last past, and has abundantly taught me concerning myself.”

If you carefully meditate on this diary entry, you cannot help but see the place of Scripture permeating his thoughts.  He quotes portions of Hebrews 12:2, John 15:5, and Philippians 2:13 in this section.  In other words,  he lived and breathed Scripture!

David Brainerd also had a practical understanding of the work of sanctification in his soul, and understood the remnants of sin within himself.  Thus, with a true sense of himself, but more importantly, a true understanding of his God, he could move forward each day to do the work of evangelism and discipleship among the native population to whom God had called him.

Words to Live By: “How amazing it is that people can talk so much about men’s power and goodness, when if God did not hold us back every moment, we should be devil’s  incarnate.” — David Brainerd

Through the Scriptures: Exodus 21 – 24

Through the Standards: The creation of mankind in the catechisms

WLC Q. 17 – “How did God create man?
A. After God has made all other creatures, he created man male and female; formed the body of the man of the dust of the ground, and the woman of the rib of the man, endued them with living, reasonable, and immortal souls; made them after his own image, in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness; having the law of God written in their hearts, and power to fulfill it, and dominion over the creatures; yet subject to fall.”

WSC Q. 10 – “How did God create man?
A. God created man male and female, after his own image, in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, with dominion over the creatures.”

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February 2 : Rev. George Duffield [1732-1790]

2 February, 2012 in February 2012 by archivist | No comments

This Day in Presbyterian History:  

A Man of Genius and Eloquence

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.

Through the Scriptures: Exodus 18 – 20

Through the Standards: The Creation of Man According to the Standards

WCF 4:2
“After God had made all other creatures, He created man, male and female, with reasonable and immortal souls, endued with knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness, after His own image, having the law of God written in their hearts, and power to fulfill it: and yet under a possibility of transgressing, being left to the liberty of their own will, which was subject to change.  Besides this law written in their hearts, they received a command, not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which while they kept it, they were  happy in their communion with God, and had dominion over the creatures.”

For further reading:
Duffield’s works are few and none are freely accessible on the Internet at this time.
Here is a chronological bibliography of Duffield’s published and unpublished works—

1775-1780
George Duffield sermons, 1775-1780, Archival Material .21 linear foot (1 volume). George Duffield was pastor of the Old Pine Street Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia and served as chaplain to the Continental Congress and the Pennsylvania Militia. These seven sermons are dated “at P[ine] St.” June 18, 1775; July 30, 1775; and May 5, 1776; “at York” April 5, 1778; and at “P[ine] St.” July 18, 1779; March 30, 1780, and undated. [Preserved at the New York Public Library Research Library]

1776-1783
George Duffield sermons, 1776-1783, Archival Material, 5 items.  Holograph (i.e., handwritten) manuscript sermons, including a sermon fragment dated [1776?], a sermon on Isaiah 9:12, 13 dated 1777 Aug 10, a sermon on Jeremiah 4:14 dated 1779 May 6, and two manuscript copies of Duffield’s “Sermon on the Occassion of the Peace,” [1783], one in his hand, the other in an unidentified hand. Accompanied by a memorandum in Duffield’s hand dated 1777 Sep 7, concerning a cloud formation, and an ALS from George Duffield (1818-1888) to Noah Porter dated 1876 May 29, with which he donated the manuscripts to Yale. [Preserved at the Yale University Library]

1784
A sermon preached in the Third Presbyterian Church in the city of Philadelphia, on Thursday December 11, 1783. The day appointed by the United States in Congress assembled, to be observed as a day of thanksgiving, for the restoration of peace, and establishment of our independence, in the enjoyment of our rights and privileges. By George Duffield, A.M. Pastor of said church, and one of the chaplains of Congress. [Five lines of Scripture quotations]. [Boston] : Philadelphia printed : Boston : Re-printed and sold by T. & J. Fleet, 1784. (26, [2] p.)

1787
A sermon, preached at the ordination of the Revd. Ashbald Green, in the Second Presbyterian Church in the city of Philadelphia. Philadelphia : Printed by F. Bailey, at Yorick’s Head, Market Street., 1787. (53, [1] p.)  Note(s): Ewing’s sermon has separate title page (p. 3): Fidelity in the gospel ministry. A sermon, preached at the ordination of the Revd. Ashbald Green in Philadelphia, May 15, 1787. By John Ewing, D.D. … And the charge, delivered by the Revd. Dr. Duffield.

Secondary sources—
Coblentz, David Herr, “George Duffield (1732-1790), Pulpit Patriot,” Manuscripts 14.4 (Fall 1962): 26-32.

Mackie, Alexander, “George Duffield, Revolutionary Patriot,” Journal of the Presbyterian Historical Society 33.1 (March 1955): 3-22.

Swaim, William T., “The Tempestuous Life of the Rev. George Duffield, D.D., 1732-1790 : A Biographical Address. Carlisle, PA: The Hamilton Historical Library Association, 16 December 1948. Revised for the 210th anniversary of the Monaghan Presbyterian Church. Dillsburg, PA: s.n., 1955. 15 p.; 28 cm.

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January 31: R. B. Kuiper [1886-1966]

31 January, 2012 in January 2012 by archivist | No comments

This Day in Presbyterian History: 

Distinctive Calvinism

The wording of the postal telegram in 1933 was simple enough to Rienk Bouke Kuiper, who was president of Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan.   Printed in all capital letters, it said, “UPON THE UNANIMOUS RECOMMENDATION OF THE FACULTY AND THE TRUSTEES OF WESTMINSTER SEMINARY IN SESSION MAY NINTH BY A UNANIMOUS VOTE HAVE ELECTED YOU TO THE CHAIR OF PRACTICAL THEOLOGY.  THE SECRETARY OF THE BOARD WILL SEND YOU FULL INFORMATION.  WE HOPE AND PRAY THAT YOU MAY BE LED TO ACCEPT THIS POST.  (signed) C. E. MACARTNEY, SAMUEL CRAIG, T. EDWARD ROSS, (for the board).

R. B. Kuiper was not unknown to the faculty and trustees of this new Presbyterian seminary in Philadelphia.  He had served the first year of its existence as professor of Systematic Theology, but then had left it to become the president of Calvin College.  Now he was being asked to return two years later to become the professor of practical theology.  The prospective teacher had all the spiritual gifts necessary for such a post.

Born January 31, 1886 in the Netherlands to a ministerial father, the family had emigrated to the United States so the father could take a congregation in Michigan of the Christian Reformed Church.

Later, R. B. Kuiper was educated at the University of Chicago, Indiana University, and with a diploma from Calvin Theological Seminary, he  finished up his training at Princeton Seminary in 1912.

After this latter instruction from some of the finest minds of the Presbyterian world, such as B.B. Warfield, R.B. Kuiper began his ministry in the pastorate, serving several congregations in Michigan. He would have all that was necessary to be a pastor of practical theology from that experience.

Below, the Westminster faculty as composed upon Kuiper’s arrival, 1933-34.

R.B. Kuiper answered the telegram’s invitation in the affirmative  and went to Westminster Seminary in Philadelphia, where he taught for 20 years.  One of his students remarked that he had the gift of making the profound simple as he proclaimed the whole counsel of God.

Among that broad span of the whole counsel of God, and one which seminary professors and students often fail, is the area of Reformed  evangelism.   Listen to his words in his book “To be or Not to Be Reformed.”  He wrote “May God forbid that we should become complacent about our progress in evangelism!  Our zeal for evangelism is not nearly as warm as it ought to be.  Our evangelistic labors are not nearly as abundant as they should be.  Our prayers for the translation of souls from darkness into God’s marvelous light must become far more fervent.” (p. 77)   What R. B. Kuiper wrote fifty years ago is no  less true in our day.   Ask yourselves the question?  Am I a zealous evangelist?

Words to Live By:  “And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the LORD, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.” The apostle Paul, Acts 13:48 (ESV)  “Divine election, and it alone, guarantees results for evangelism.”  R.B. Kuiper

Pictured above: Some of the courses taught by R.B. Kuiper in his first year at Westminster.

Through the Scriptures: Exodus 11 – 13

Through the Standards:  Creation, according to  the catechisms

WLC 15 “What is the work of creation?
A.  The work of creation  is that wherein God did in the beginning, by the word of his power, make of nothing the world, and all things therein, for himself, within the space of six days, and all very good.”

WSC 9  “What is the work of creation?
A. The work of creation is, God’s making all things of nothing, by the word of his power, in the space of six days, and all very good.”

Photograph source: The Presbyterian Guardian 5.3 (March 1938): 50.

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