January 2014

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January 10: Dr. Samuel Miller

10 January, 2014 in January 2014 by archivist | No comments

The Important Ministry of Ruling Elders

miller01 copyWith a lineage from the Mayflower, Samuel Miller was born in 1769.  Reared in a family of nine, in the home of a minister, he was home schooled and eventually studied at the University of Pennsylvania.  After prayer and fasting, he decided to enter the Christian ministry.  With his minister father, his home schooling in theology was a natural arrangement, and he was soon ordained to be a Presbyterian minister.  Serving as the pastor of a New York city congregation, he became convinced of the need to ordain ruling elders just as the church had long ordained teaching elders.

On January 10, 1809, he presided over the first ordination of ruling  elders in a congregation in New Jersey.  That same year, he preached a sermon on “The Divine Appointment, the Duties, and the Qualifications of Ruling Elders.”  This theme eventually became a book in 1831.  This fundamental conviction was communicated to countless students when Samuel Miller was appointed to be the second professor at Princeton Theological Seminary in 1813.  Hear him as he enunciates his position:

“And as the members of the church session, whether assembled in their judicial capacity or not, are the pastor’s counselors and colleagues in all matters relating to the spiritual rule of the church, so it is their official duty to encourage, sustain, and defend him in the faithful discharge of his duty.  It is deplorable when a minister is assailed for his fidelity by the profane and the worldly, if any portion of the eldership either takes part against him, or shrinks from his active and determined offense.  It is not meant, of course, that they are to consider themselves bound to sustain him in everything he may say or do, whether right or wrong, but that, when they believe him to be faithful, both to truth and duty, they should feel it is their duty to stand by him, to shield him from the arrows of the wicked, and to encourage him as far as he obeys Christ.”

[Above right: Title page of Miller’s work on the ruling elder, as it appeared in the 1832 reprint.]

Words to Live By: “It is the elder’s official duty to encourage, sustain, and defend (the teaching elder) in the faithful discharge of his duty.” – Samuel Miller

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January 9: The Auburn Affirmation

9 January, 2014 in January 2014 by archivist | No comments

The Root of the Presbyterian Apostasy?

Or simply one of the earliest public manifestations of long-standing sins? Such things do not just suddenly appear out of nowhere. The errors espoused in the Auburn Affirmation had been brewing for decades. Some point back to the influence of Charles A. Briggs and how he continued to teach at Union Theological Seminary in New York, even after being found guilty of heresy. Others point to the reunion of the New School Presbyterians with the Old School in 1869, a reunion which failed to address the shortcomings of the New School faction. And there are other problems and issues that might be discussed. But the Auburn Affirmation came at a strategic time, early in the 20th-century. Thus its importance as an historical document. 

aubaff_1924When church historians evaluate the history of American Presbyterianism, the publication of the “Auburn Affirmation” will stand out in importance like the nailing of Luther’s ninety-five theses on the Wittenberg Germany church door in 1517.  Except this Affirmation, unlike that of the German reformer, constituted a major offensive against biblical Christianity.

The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in 1923 had repeated the earlier high court’s affirmations of five essential truths which made up the fundamentals of Christianity.  They were the inerrant Scripture, the Virgin Birth, the substitutionary atonement of Christ, His literal bodily resurrection from the dead on the third day, and supernatural miracles.  However the very next year,on January 9, 1924, one hundred and fifty Presbyterian elders issued an affirmation in Auburn, New York which stated that these five fundamentals were not necessary and essential doctrines for the church.  Eventually the number of ministers to sign it would increase to 1,294 ordained ministers, about ten per cent of the clergy on the rolls of the Presbyterian church.

[Above right, The Auburn Affirmation as it appeared in its first edition, including a list of 150 signers.]

The Auburn Affirmation used many familiar terms on which unsuspecting Christians might be deceived.  Thus, it affirmed inspiration, but denied Scripture to be without error.  It affirmed the incarnation, but denied the Virgin Birth.  It affirmed the atonement, but denied that Christ satisfied divine justice and reconciled us to God.  It affirmed the resurrection of Christ, but denied Jesus rose from the dead with the same body in which He was crucified.  It affirmed Jesus did many mighty works, but denied that He was a miracle worker.

The tragedy of this Affirmation was that not one of its signers were ever brought up for church discipline by their respective presbyteries.  This sin of omission hastened the apostasy of the church, as many of the signers would later find placement in every agency of the church.

Words to Live By:  “Beloved, my whole concern was to write to you in regard to our common salvation.  [But] I found it necessary and was impelled to write you and urgently appeal to and exhort [you] to contend for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints [the faith which is that sum of Christian belief which was delivered verbally to the holy people of God”] Jude v. 3 (Amplified)

For Further Study:
The Auburn Affirmation and the Response of Confessional Presbyterians, 1924-1946.

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January 7: Rev. A. R. Cocke, D.D.

7 January, 2014 in January 2014 by archivist | No comments

cockeARRev. A. R. Cocke, D.D. was ordained by Lexington Presbytery January 19, 1881.  He came to the Windy Cove Presbyterian church directly from the Seminary. He was an A.B. graduate of Washington and Lee University and also a graduate of Union Seminary, Richmond, Virginia. He served as pastor at Windy Cove from 1881-1884. The Presbyterian Church at Millboro was or­ganized during his pastorate.

Rev. Alonzo Rice Cocke was born in Campbell County, Virginia, January 7, 1858.  His parents were Alonzo and Frances Rice Cocke. He was a descendent of Rev. Samuel Blair, of Faggs Manor, Pennsylvania and of the Rev. David Rice who went from Virginia to Kentucky after the Revolutionary War, and who did so much to establish Presbyterianism west of the Alleghenies.

Like Samuel of old he was early called of God. He professed conversion at the age of eight, telling his mother he hoped it was the grace of God that made him happy and he showed even then a full understanding of the plan of salvation.  His father having died, his religious training devolved upon his mother. He joined Diamond Hill Church, Roanoke Presbytery, when he was nine years old. After reading the life of General Lee, he said, “I had rather preach the gospel than be the greatest general that ever was.”

He studied at New London Academy and Washington and Lee University, graduating in his twentieth year with distinction.  He went to Union Seminary, a school founded by a distinguished member of his mother’s family, finishing his course at twenty-two years of age.

He preached at Covington, Virginia and Hot Springs, Arkansas, though de­clining calls to either of these churches. His first pastorate, beginning in 1880, was Windy Cove Church and then Millboro obtained a separate or­ganization and he served both of these churches as pastor. In 1880 he was married to Miss Jeanie Leyburn, of Lexington, Virginia, who was very helpful to him in his work. One child, Frances Lea, came to bless their lives. While serving at Windy Cove, he met the saintly Rev. Samuel Brown who was paternal in his friendship. Rev. Cocke was forced to resign his beloved pastorate on account of ill health in 1884. After recuperating, he took a course under the brilliant Dr. R. L. Dabney in Texas. While there he taught some of the classes of Dr. Dabney who said of him, “Such a display of didactic skill and tact showed him to be a born teacher.”  Great inducements were offered him to remain in Texas, but personal and domestic duties caused him to return to Virginia.

He was called to Waynesboro in 1886. The church there had 105 members, but during his pastorate it increased to five or six hundred with two organizations.  In all, eight hundred were added to the church. During his pastorate there he filled the chair of Philosophy in Valley Seminary.  He was offered the Presidency of Agnes Scott Seminary, Decatur, Georgia, and the chair of Syste­matic Theology in South Western University, Clarksville, Tennessee, but declined both offers.

He was appointed chaplain of the University of Virginia but served only one term (1895-96), as his congregation was unwill­ing to sever the pastoral relation. His zeal for winning souls was earnestly shown at the University of Virginia.  Beginning in 1897, Dr. Cocke wrote the “Practical and Illustrative Department” of The Earnest Worker, an important magazine published by the Southern Presbyterian denomination. He also authored Studies in Ephesians and Studies in St. John and No Immersion in the Bible, all works which were enthusiastically received by his friends.

The degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred on him on the same day by Washington and Lee University, Virginia, and by Central University, Kentucky.  “Such was his culture of mind and heart, his ability and many sided activities, his rare union of pastoral and preaching gifts, his tact, his sympathy and his cheerful courage, that a large promise of usefulness in the service of God and man was before him,” thus wrote one of his friends.

One of the members of the Windy Cove Church wrote, “We know that earth is better and brighter, lives richer and fuller, hopes and aspirations more glorious for those who came into close contact with his saintly life. He not only preached the glorious gospel with great earnestness and power—he lived it. He lived among his people and he loved them—each man, woman, and child felt sure of a sympathetic friend in him of him more can it be said than of any one I have ever known,  “ ‘Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.’ ”

One of the last sermons he preached was from the text of Revelation 21:21, “Every several gate was of one pearl.”  He seemed to be gazing beyond the Pearly Gates into the celestial city. Those beautiful gates opened for him in but a a few days later. He died at Mercy Hospital in Chicago on August 23, 1901, following an operation. His body was brought back to Waynesboro and in­terred in the River View Cemetery, where he awaits the resurrection call. For him to live was Christ and to die was gain.

Chronological bibliography—
1892
Studies in Ephesians. Lectures delivered at the Presbyterian church at Waynesboro, VA. Chicago: Fleming H. Revell, 1892.  137 p.; 19 cm.

1893
No Immersion in the Bible; or, Baptism as taught and practiced by Christ and the apostles. Richmond, Va., Presbyterian Committee of Publication, 1893 3d ed.  80 p. [reprinted at least through eight editions]

True Culture Exemplified in Alma Mater’s Training: Address before the Alumni Association of Washington and Lee University.  Lynchburg, VA.: J.P. Bell Company, Book and Job Printers, 1893.  14 p.

1895
Studies in the Epistles of John, or, The Manifested Life. Richmond, VA: The Presbyterian Committee of Publication, 1895.  159 p.; 19 cm.

The gravesite of the Rev. A. R. Cocke: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=39583857

 

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January 6: Reflections on a Year Past

6 January, 2014 in January 2014 by archivist | 2 comments

The following short quote comes from the Memoir of the Rev. J. J. Janeway, a biography compiled by Janeway’s son, Thomas L. Janeway. Jacob Jones Janeway was a noted Presbyterian pastor, situated in Philadelphia in the first half of the nineteenth-century, serving first as associate pastor under Ashbel Green. A close friend of Dr. Samuel Miller, Rev. Janeway was also a key supporter of Princeton Seminary in its early years.
Much of this biography is drawn from diaries kept by Rev. Janeway, and in this particular quote, we find him reflecting on the close of the year and looking forward to the new. His reflections are made the more poignant in that during that year past, he and his wife had suffered the death of a child. By God’s grace and mercy, most of us have probably not lost loved ones in the past year, but the sum of the quote is otherwise an admirable reflection, worthy of review.
So often we conclude a post with a “Words to Live By” comment. Lest we take away from the impact of his words, his reflection is so labeled:—  

J.J. JanewayWords to Live By:
SABBATH, January 6, 1811. ” It has pleased the Lord to prolong my life. How many thousands have died during the last year! but my life has been spared. How many thousands have languished in sickness! but I have enjoyed health. How many millions have lived the year out under thick Heathenish darkness! but I have enjoyed the light of the glorious gospel of Christ. How many who, although they hear the gospel calls and invitations, yet have been living in a state of sin and condemnation! But I have. I trust, been enabled, by free and sovereign grace, to spend the year in a state of peace and friendship with God, and in hope of a blissful immortality. Oh, to grace, how great a debtor! I mourn over the sins of the last year, and beseech grace to spend this more than any heretofore to the glory of God. This year finds us one less in family. It has pleased Almighty God to remove our dear babe from us. We bow to the stroke of Divine Providence.”

[Excerpted from Memoir of the Rev. J. J. Janeway (1861), pp. 177-178.]

Afterthought: The above quote, excepting perhaps the last few sentences, might be a good one to write out on a card and place in your Bible, for frequent reflection through the year.

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January 5: The Place of Preaching

5 January, 2014 in January 2014 by archivist | 2 comments

rayburnIt was on this day, January 5, 1990, that the Rev. Dr. Robert Gibson Rayburn died. Dr. Rayburn had most notably served as the first president of the Covenant Theological Seminary, from its inception until 1977. Previously he had served as president of Highland College, Pasadena, California, as an Army chaplain, and as pastor of churches in Nebraska, Texas, Illinois and Missouri.

The following message is excerpted from Koinonia: The Organ of the Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Roorkee, U-P, India, vol. 4, no. 2 (April 1978), pages 1-3.

The Place of Preaching

by Dr. Robert G. Rayburn

Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones in his recent book called Preachers and Preaching states in the opening paragraph his conviction that “the most urgent need in the Christian Church today is true preaching; and as it is the greatest and most urgent need in the church it is obviously the greatest need in the world also.” He then goes on to say that the primary task of the Church, and of every Christian minister is the preaching of the Word of God.

I would like to go a step beyond Dr.Lloyd-Jones’ statement and say that not only for the Christian minister, but also for every individual Christian the preaching (proclama­tion) of the Word of God itself is, next to his worship, his primary task.

We live in a day when evangelicals are placing more and more stress on the social implications of the gospel. One cannot read the Scriptures without agreeing that those implications are there. But such implications do not give us the direction for our primary emphasis.

Our Lord Himself has given us the great example and pattern for our lives. He was deeply concerned with the physical and material need of men. He performed many miracles of healing.  He never ignored the physical needs of those who came to Him for help.  But He did not come to heal the sick, to open the eyes of the blind, or to give soundness to the limbs of crippled men. He came to save the lost.  His own words were:  “The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19 : 10). That which He considered primary is clearly evident when the four men brought their sick friend to Jesus and let him down through the roof of the house. The Lord was preach­ing there; He was undoubtedly preaching about saving faith in Him. When He saw the faith of the four men His first words to the paralytic were, “Son, your sins are for­given.” This was the matter of first impor­tance. Then, however, when questioned by the scribes about His power to forgive, He said, “That ye may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins…” He said to the paralytic, “I tell you, get up, take your mat, and go home,” and the man was healed.  Salvation was first; healing second.

Not only, however, do we learn of the primacy of preaching from our Lord. It is evident in ths lives of the Apostles, and also in the practice of the early Church. As soon as the Apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost they began not to heal the sick nor to aid the poor, but to preach the gospel of salvation. Peter’s great sermon on that occasion is preserved for us in part. It must be pointed out that as soon as people began coming to Christ and being converted by the thousands, the authorities did everything they could to stop these men from preaching.  There was not a word of complaint about the miracles of healing they had performed.  Thev were forbidden to preach!  “Speak no more henceforth in His name” (Acts 4:18 and 5:40)

In Acts 8 we read that there was a great persecution. This came, of course, because of their preaching! Then they were all scattered, except the Apostles, and “they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the Word”. This was not the Apostles; it was the company of believers. They were not preaching in a formal way from a pulpit as our pastors do today. Theirs was the kind of preaching which every earnest Christian is responsible to carry on.

We speak a great deal about witnessing today. We usually mean giving our own personal testimony concerning the Lord’s work in our hearts. This is important, but something more than this is before us in Acts 8. The believers were telling the good news of salvation through Christ. Every one of us must be equipped to convey clearly and forcefully the message from God which we call the gospel.

It is not enough for us just to study the Bible and learn what its message is. To understand its fulness requires a lifetime of study. But the very heart of the message is the divine program of redemption, of salvation from sin through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. To preach this message clearly, simply, appealingly, accurately and faithfully is the responsibility of every believer and we all should make sure we are prepared for this high task. True preaching ought not only to instruct the hearers in Biblical truth, but it also should bring men and women face to face with their own need in the light of the realities of sin and guilt, salvation and eternal  life and then it should appeal to them to trust God and obey Him. Many who read these words will never be called of God to be professional preachers.  However, if you are a true believer and are obedient to Christ you will have a great desire to obey Him with respect to preaching the gospel and you will take steps to perfect your knowledge of and ability to declare the gospel.

If you are concerned to please God in your preaching you will be careful to make your preaching pre-eminently evangelistic. By this I mean that you will be continually presenting a Saviour to sinful men. No ordained minister has a nobler function than this. Jesus came to save sinner’s, to preach the gospel to the poor. To be evangelical one does not need to be traditional, but he must be informed and intelligent.

Remember that the Gospel is not a nice message for some men. It is an absolute necessity for all men! Why? Because of human sin, sorrow and suffering, not because of social inequalities and the frustrations and failures of human relationships. That which is behind all social problems of every age is sin. The message that we preach then must be a message which offers salvation from sin. We do not need to prove that there is sin in the world. Conscience, experience, and history prove that well enough. What is necessary, however, is convincing men who want to deny it that their own sinfulness is so severe that their only hope is receiving the salvation God has provided through the shed blood of His Son.

In trying to convince men of their sin it is not wisest to pick out such sins as drunken­ness, dishonesty and adultery to get men to see their personal sinfulness. Emphasizing such sins may leave some without any sense of guilt. What we must show men is the secrecy, the subtlety of sin, its ability to appear attractive and harmless. Our Lord’s most severe words were not addressed to the drunkards nor to the adulterers, but to people who were respected for their outward moral­ity and religiousness, while their hearts were unclean. To be more concerned with per­sonal success, prosperity and pleasure than bringing glory to God, that is sin! To harbor in our hearts attitudes of antagonism and animosity for others, and a willingness to see them lose out if we can gain by their loss, this is evil! Anything which is contrary to the holy character of God is sin.

Of course, if we are to be truly evangelical we must be able, having aroused men to a consciousness of sin, to make clear and win­some the nature of salvation by showing them the love of God the Father and the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because man is a helpless, hopeless sinner, salvation, if it is a true and adequate salvation, must make him right with God. If he sees himself in his sin he must also see how completely God has provided the remedy for his sin through the blood of His Son.

If you are going to be faithful to your task of preaching the Gospel, a few worn cliches will never serve adequately to present to dying men the wonders of God’s great salvation. May you give yourself whole­heartedly to the task of being prepared to preach with power.

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