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December 11: Rev. George Duffield

11 December, 2015 in Uncategorized by davidtmyers | No comments

A Sermon Preached on a National Observance

The Congress of the nation had appointed this day in 1783 as a Day of Thanksgiving, because Peace has been restored, Independence had been established, with rights and Privileges Enjoyed. One of the ministers who took the opportunity to preach a sermon was George Duffield, the pastor of the Third Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia.

Pastor Duffield was quite a minister. Graduating from the College of New Jersey, later Princeton, Rev. Duffield began his ministry in Big Spring, Carlisle, and Monaghan, Pennsylvania. During those years, he had cause to lead his members against the local Indian tribes who were causing disturbance among his members and their families. Moving his ministry to Philadelphia and the Third Presbyterian congregation of that denomination, his pastorate there began in great controversy. A decided member of New Light Presbyterians, discussed elsewhere on these posts, a portion of the congregation locked the doors on his first Sunday. He crawled in through a window and held worship anyhow. When a British magistrate appeared and ordered the congregation dispersal, the magistrate was physically ejected for disturbing worship. Rev Duffield and some of his supporters were then jailed for causing a riot! Talk about a first day in the pulpit!

When the American Revolution began, Duffield joined the fight for independence both in word and deed. He was a chaplain of the Congress. He was also marked by the British with a price put on him. So it must have been a sweet worship time when on December 11, 1783, he celebrated the restoration of peace and a new country.

The sermon, which is too long to include here, is filled with the mention of the Great Author of Liberty as the One who brought about this new country named America. Consider one of his paragraphs at the close of his sermon. He said,

“Who can recollect the critical night of retreat from Long Island; the scene of retiring from New York; the day of Brandy-wine; or the endangered situation of the arms of America, on Trenton’s ever memorable night; and not be constrained to say, ‘if it had not been the Lord, who was on our side, our enemy would have swallowed us up.’ But blessed be His name, our help was found in Him, who made the heavens and the earth. It was God, who blasted the secret design of enemies and traitors against us. And by an admirable interposition, brought forth into light, the dark and deep-stained villainy of an (Benedict) Arnold, cursed and detested of God and men. And converted our repeated misfortunes and even mistakes, into singular mercies, and peculiar advantage, that, not more manifest was his voice on Sinai; or his hand, in his affairs of his Israel of old; than we have seen the wisdom, the power, and the goodness of our God; than we have seen the wisdom, the power, and the goodness of our God, displayed through the whole of our arduous contest, from its earliest period down: And may, with emphatic propriety, say, it is he the Almighty God, has accomplished the whole, in every part; and by his kind care, and omnipotent arm, has wrought out our deliverance; cast forth our enemy, bestowed upon us a wide extended, fruitful country; and blessed us with a safe and honorable peace.” (p. 15)

Words to Live By:
The Presbyterian pastor was not afraid to bestow upon the God of the Bible the singular description of the Author of Liberty. He does bring national liberty, for which we praise His name. But our gratitude is more specifically given in providing spiritual liberty from sin and Satan. Far better to possess that, by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ Jesus alone.

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December 10: Covenanters in the Crown of London

10 December, 2015 in December 2015 by davidtmyers | No comments

The story of the Covenanters defeated at Bothwell Bridge and sent aboard the Crown of London as slaves is a sobering story. There are pictures on the web of the monument on the coast of Orkney near the sea as well as the Covenanter Fountain in Kirkland.

Covenanters in the Crown of London

Following the disastrous Battle at Bothwell Bridge on June 22, 1679, in which Covenanters were defeated in the battle, close to 1200 Covenanter prisoners were taken to Edinburgh and imprisoned in a make shift, open air prison next to Greyfriars Kirk (church). Some were tortured and killed immediately. Others died of natural conditions due to the harsh conditions of the site. Others were pardoned and set free under the August 14th Act of Indemnity that same year. But our attention today focuses in on the approximately 257 alleged ringleaders, including Covenanter ministers, who were sentenced to be shipped to the West Indies or Virginia as white slaves. Setting sail from Leith, Scotland, on the prison ship, Crown of London, on November 27, 1679, they sailed only a short while before bad weather forced them into a port.

Despite warnings from the locals to not attempt to sail, they had hardly cleared the land mass when the ship lost its anchor on December 10, 1679, striking rocks off of Dearness.The captain, Thomas Teddico, described as a profane, cruel wretch, ordered the crew to escape by chopping down the mast and riding it to the shore. The prisoners in the hold, who had their hatches chained to prevent them from escaping, were left to their own straits. All of them perished, with the exception of around 50 who were enabled to escape by means of a ax which one prisoner had with him. During  the next several days, bodies of the dead prisoners washed up at the beaches, and subsequently were buried in the area.

Of those who managed to escape, six prisoners were caught and shipped to the Barbados as slaves. Eight other Covenanters were shipped to the English plantations in Virginia. Some escaped to Ulster. At least two families in the port area claimed to be descended from a few Covenanters who stayed where they landed.

orkneyOn August 22, 1888, a majestic granite monument [pictured at right] was erected about 300 yards from the spot where the Crown of London went down. It has the following memorial etched on its side: “Erected by public subscription to the memory of 200 Covenanters who were taken prisoner at Bothwell Bridge and sentenced to transportation for life, but who perished by shipwreck near this spot, 10th December 1679.” Another memorial is found in nearby Kirkwall and is known as the Covenanter Water Fountain, built just two years later in 1890 due to excess funds left over from the original monument.

Words to Live By:
Our spiritual forefathers suffered much for the Savior in their battles to win the Reformation. They deserve to be remembered by all Presbyterians everywhere for their sacrifices for the kingdom of Christ. In  so remembering, you the reader may be informed that black African slaves were not the only ones shipped to these shores. White slaves — Covenanter slaves — also were sent to our shores. Don’t forget their sacrifices. Remember their sacrifices as we approach the coming year.

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December 8: Rev. John Blair

8 December, 2015 in December 2015 by davidtmyers | No comments

Sinners Were Converted and Saints Were Edified Under His Ministry

Like his brother Samuel, John Blair was also born in Ireland.  Coming to the American colonies, he was ordained in 1742 as the pastor of two Presbyterian churches filled with Scot-Irish Presbyterians in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. During his ministry here, he made two evangelistic tours to Virginia where he preached with great power. Presbyterian congregations were organized as a result.

In 1748, despite organized armed resistance against marauding Indians, he was forced for the safety of his family to depart back to the eastern section of Pennsylvania.  While there, he received a call as the second pastor of Faggs Manor Presbyterian Church in Cochranville, Pennsylvania, where his brother Samuel had both ministered and organized a classical Christian school.

When John Witherspoon hesitated to take the president’s office of the College of New Jersey, John Blair was appointed a Professor of Divinity and Moral Philosophy in 1767.  Indeed, as the Office of the President continued to be vacant, he stepped in as President of the college. But upon Witherspoon’s agreement to come to America and take the leadership of the College of New Jersey, Blair graciously stepped down.  Moving to New York, he died on December 8, 1771.

It was said of John Blair that as a result of his zealousness in the gospel, sinners were converted and the family of God edified. What more of a testimony could a Christian and a Christian minister desire than this?

Words to live by:
It is frequently the case when you have a theologian, there is a lack of experiential witness to the world at large. His ministry is in his study or in the classroom, not out on the highways and byways of life. Or, by contrast, you might have an individual who is absolutely powerful in persuasion of the hearts and minds of those outside of Christ, but who would never get into the deep things of theology. John Blair had both abilities in his life and ministry.  As a theologian, he was not inferior to any of his day.  As a pastor, he addressed souls with that warmth and power which left a witness to the truth of the gospel. Each Christian is to seek his or her calling so as to be a witness in whatever place the Holy Spirit sends them.  And if it is to the intellectual as well as to common people, so much the more is God glorified.

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December 3: Rev. Ethan Osborn

3 December, 2015 in December 2015 by davidtmyers | No comments

No Parallel in the Annals of the American Pulpit

So it was thought by the pulpiteers of the late nineteenth century, and thus our title today. This description fit the Rev. Ethan Osborn, one of the early pastors of the Fairfield Presbyterian Church, located in Fairton, New Jersey, and organized in 1680.

Born in Litchfield, Connecticut in 1758, Ethan Osborn was born to Christian parents and given a Christian education, taking his place as one in a family of nine children.  When the Sabbath came as the first day in each week, young Ethan was in public worship.  Like many covenant children, he attended simply out of obedience to his parents.  But as the boy became older, the Sabbath became a most welcome day.  He began to practice secret prayer and by the time he entered college, he had received the Savior by grace, through faith alone.

College for Ethan was Dartmouth, beginning there at the age of seventeen. The American Revolution was at full tilt during his college years so that in the middle of it, he became a soldier at age eighteen.  It was a very hard year for the young enlistee as the Continental Army was being pushed around all over the eastern seaboard in 1776.  Ethan clearly saw the providence of the Lord in that, becoming sick one month, he was caused to miss a battle in which his regiment was captured with the result that only four of those captured made it through the brutal imprisonment.  He returned to collegiate life soon after the war, graduating in 1784.

With no theological school around (Princeton Seminary did not begin until 1812), he studied for three years under experienced pastors. Called to one church, he was led to delay it until December 3, 1789, when he was called to the Old Stone Church, as it was known then, as their pastor. For the next fifty-five years, he with warm biblical expositions and faithful shepherding of the people of God, became known as “Father Osborn.”

Even though he would retire when he turned eighty-six years of age, he continued his ministry, preaching once when he was ninety-seven years of age. He went to be with his Lord in 1858 at age ninety-nine years, eight months, and ten days.

The church today is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church in America, and is the oldest Presbyterian church of that denomination.

At right, the old former building of the continuing PCA congregation, Fairton, NJ.

Words to live by:
Of Ethan Osborn, it was said that he was THE pastor of the Old Stone Church, a church which had been established so early in this land, well before our American Revolution. And while we might marvel at old buildings and the echoes of the past, what is more remarkable still is a continued faithful adherence to the gospel by the pastors, faithful elders, and families that have made up this congregation for now three centuries and more. All praise and glory to our Lord and God who preserves His people in righteousness, for His sake.

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November 30: Jonathan Parsons [1705-1776]

30 November, 2015 in November 2015 by davidtmyers | No comments

One More Presbyterian Minister Stands for Liberty
by David T. Myers.

“Men of America,” the Presbyterian minister in Massachusetts preached, “citizens of this great country hanging upon the precipice of war, loyalty to England lies behind you, broken by the acts of the mother country – a cruel mother, deaf to the voice of liberty and right; duty to freedom, duty to your country, duty to God is before you; your patriotism is brought to the test; I call upon those ready to volunteer for the defense of the provinces against British tyranny to step into the ‘broad aisle.’” Those who did step into that church aisle became the first volunteers to join the Continental Army and fight in the Battle of Bunker Hill. A political liberty became his emphasis in those days.

Such rhetoric was more commonly found among Presbyterian pastors than any other denomination in the days and years of the American Revolution. It was no wonder that the Revolutionary War was characterized in England as the Presbyterian Rebellion. And one of those Presbyterian ministers leading the charge was Jonathan Parsons.

Born November 30, 1705, he was the youngest son of church deacon Ebenezer Parsons and his wife Margaret Marshfield of Springfield, Massachusetts. This line of Parsons could be traced back hundreds of years in England and later, equally forward for a long time in America. Jonathan Parsons was influenced by the Rev. Jonathan Edwards to enter Yale, which he did at age twenty. Edwards, along with others, taught him theology as he prepared for the ministry.

Graduating in 1729, Parsons entered first into the pulpit of the Congregational Church of Lyme, Connecticut in 1731. Married to Phebe Griswold, the oldest daughter of the town’s leading family, Jonathan gained much in the material realm in the first decade of his ministry. And he lived that advantage to the fullest. It was said that “he had a passion for fine clothes, for gold and silver, and for lacy ruffled shirt fronts.”

All this came into direct confrontation with the effects of the Great Awakening in America. Suffering doubts regarding the reality of his own personal conversion, he struggled long and hard in his own mind until “the doctrine of salvation by faith burst on his mind.” The result was that his pulpit preaching became marked by greater earnestness and simplicity as he expounded the sufferings of Christ and His undying love for sinners. Rev. Parson’s ministry was now characterized by a spiritual vigor and a renewed freedom in preaching the Gospel of grace.

This embrace of the Great Awakening was enhanced by his meeting and subsequent cooperation with George Whitefield in the 1740’s. The latter entered his pulpit in Lyme twice. While reviving many with the doctrines of grace proclaimed without reservation, eventually the congregation suffered a schism. And so it was that Parsons was dismissed from the Congregational pulpit in 1745.

With help from Whitefield, Jonathan Parsons became the pastor of the Old South Presbyterian Church in Newburyport, Massachusetts. He would serve the Lord for thirty years, in which time the congregation became one of the largest churches in New England. It was to this congregation that George Whitefield would visit in 1770, and indeed Whitefield breathed his last and was translated to heaven there in the parsonage of Jonathan Parsons. His body was laid beneath the pulpit of that church, and though later moved a short distance, Whitefield’s remains are still there. Yet a few more years and Whitefield was joined on July 19, 1776 with the passing of his friend Jonathan Parsons.

Words to Live By:
Jonathan Parsons is a good example of what happens when the Gospel of the Lord Jesus fills our hearts and minds by the power of the Holy Spirit. Strive to so live and breathe that you always remain close to your Lord and Savior. Then watch to see how the Lord will indeed use you to His glory, in His kingdom.

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