May 2014

You are currently browsing the archive for the May 2014 category.

May 14: Rev. Erskine Mason [1805-1851]

14 May, 2014 in May 2014 by davidtmyers | No comments

The Life of a Christian Minister Can Never Be Written.

Erskine Mason was born in New York City on April 16, 1805. He was the youngest child of the Rev. John M. and Anna L. Mason, D.D. As a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary in 1825, Erskine was ordained on October 20, 1826 and installed as pastor of the Scotch Presbyterian Church on Cedar Street in the City. Almost a year later he married, and this at roughly the same time that he was installed as pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Schenectady. Then, with but three years experience, he was called to serve the prestigious Bleeker Street Presbyterian Church in New York City. Another six years later, he accepted a position as professor of Church History at Union Theological Seminary, while retaining his post as pastor of the Bleeker Street Church. By 1846, his congregation could see that he needed a time of rest and relaxation, and so enabled him to spend several months in Europe. He returned refreshed and it appeared that he had many years of ministry ahead of him. Yet surprisingly, his life proved short. Returning from an annual outing in the country in August of 1850, he soon felt weak and his health began to decline. When his last moments came, he declared, “It is all bright and clear.” Seated in his chair, he breathed his last, and died on May 14, 1851.

That too brief survey of his life will have to suffice this day, if we are to leave room for the wonderful opening words spoken in memory of Rev. Mason. The following, though admittedly a bit flowery (in good nineteenth-century fashion), was composed by the Rev. William Adams. Given the focus of our blog, I thought it appropriate to reproduce his words here:—

“The life of a Christian minister never can be written. Its incidents may be easily mentioned, for they are few. His parentage, birth, education, conversion, ordination, preaching, illness and death, comprise the whole. The whole? His real life consists not in striking and startling events. When the streams are flushed with the spring-freshet, overflowing the banks and sweeping away the dams and the bridges, the marvel is heralded in every newspaper; but when the same streams flow quietly along their ordinary channels, making the meadows to smile with verdure, refreshing the roots of the trees and turning the wheels of the mill, they excite no remark, even though their tranquil flow awakens a grateful admiration. Sum up the professional labors of a minister, and give the product in so many sermons, written and delivered!

“As well to attempt to gather up the rain, measure and weigh it. A certain amount of water you may show, but what of the moisture which has been absorbed by the tender vegetable, and the leaves of the trees? The life of a preacher is spent in addressing the intellect and conscience of his fellow-men. Ten, twenty, thirty years has he preached. How many thoughts, in how many minds has he suggested during such a period! What manifold judgments and purposes, what great hopes and wise fears have had their origin in his own thoughts and words! What sayings of his have been lodged in men’s minds, which have worked in secret about the roots of character! Even while despondent himself, because so few visible results of his toil are revealed, his opinions by insensible degrees are growing into the convictions of others, and his own life is infused into the life of a whole generation.

“It is a peculiarity of his position that he touches the life of his people at those points which are the most memorable and important in their existence. He unites them in marriage, baptizes their children, and buries their dead. He dies, and is soon forgotten by the world. The sable drapery which was hung about his pulpit on his funeral day is taken down; his successor is chosen and installed, and the tide of life rolls on as before. But he is not forgotten by all. His life is not all lost and dissipated. As the manners of a father are acted over in his son, and the smile of a mother will brighten again, after she is dead, on the face of her daughter, so will the sentiments of a minister be transmitted after his ministry is closed, his words be repeated after he has ceased to speak, and all his hopes and wishes live again in other hearts, long after his own beats no more. His biography will not be finished nor disclosed till that day when the secrets of all hearts shall be revealed; and the seals of his ministry will be set, like stars in the firmament for ever and ever.

“To accommodate to a Christian minister, the language employed by Mr. Coleridge, in reference to Bell, the founder of schools:—”Would I frame to myself the most inspirating representation of future bliss, which my mind is capable of comprehending, it would be embodied to me in the idea of such an one receiving at some distant period, the appropriate reward of his earthly labors, when thousands of glorified spirits, whose reason and conscience had, through his efforts, been unfolded, shall sing the song of their own redemption, and pouring forth praise to God and to their Saviour, shall repeat his ‘new name’ in heave, give thanks for his earthly virtues, as the chosen instrument of divine mercy to themselves, and not seldom, perhaps, turning their eyes toward him, as from the sun to its image in the fountain, with secondary gratitude and the permitted utterance of a human love.”

Words to Live By:
Rev. Adams concluded his memoir for Rev. Mason:—
“No one who goes hence returns to finish the work of life. But there is intensity of motive enough in the sober truth that every man is actually engaged day by day in writing that autobiography, which neither time nor eternity will efface. It may be written in high places or in low, in public remembrance or in the honest heart of domestic affection, but we are writing fast, we are writing sure, we are writing for eternity. Happy is he who, through the grace of God assisting him, like the subject of this memoir, records such lessons of kindness, truth and wisdom, that when he is gone, he will be held in grateful remembrance; happier still to have one’s name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, that when every memorial and monument of his earthly history has perished, he may ascend with the Son of God, to Honour, Glory and Immortality.”

Tags: , , ,

May 13: Francis Blanchard Hodge

13 May, 2014 in May 2014 by archivist | No comments

In Following the Lord, He Followed His Brothers

Rev. Francis Blanchard Hodge [1838-1905]Francis Blanchard Hodge was the seventh child of Dr. Charles Hodge and his wife Sarah, and was born on October 24, 1838, the year after the schism of the Old and New School Presbyterians and a year before his father published the first volume of hisConstitutional History of the Presbyterian Church in America. Frank, as he was called by family members, was named in memory of a favorite nephew of Dr. Hodge’s mother—Francis Blanchard, the son of Samuel Blanchard, of Wenham, Massachusetts. Among life’s tragedies, Francis suffered the death of his mother Sarah when he was just eleven years old. His father remarried when Francis was fourteen.

As might be expected, Francis was educated at Princeton, graduating at the college, and later at the theological seminary. His studies were hindered, however, by an inflammation of the eyes, the result of an accident. Not deterred, much of his learning was acquired by oral instruction, and in spite of the setback, he advanced rapidly. Francis had a fine voice and style of presentation, and was accorded the honor of being Junior Orator, and in turn appointed to deliver the Whig Hall anniversary Oration. Upon his graduation from Seminary, he first married, taking Mary, daughter of Professor Stephen Alexander, of Nassau Hall, as his bride in June of 1863. Then he answered a call to serve as the pastor of a congregation in Oxford, Pennsylvania, a position previously occupied by his brother Wistar Hodge. Francis was ordained and installed in this pulpit on January 5, 1864, and his father brought the charge to his newly ordained son. A copy of this charge is preserved among the papers of Dr. Charles Hodge [cf. Box 21, file 32, in the Department of Special Collections at the Princeton Theological Seminary.

Of this first pastorate, his uncle wrote, “Here his intelligence, great amiability and devotion to his parishioners, united with considerable eloquence of voice and manner, obtained for him much popularity and influence. His congregation was augmented in size, and, although chiefly composed of farmers, they were induced to pull down their old building, and to erect a handsome brick structure as a substitute.”

Meanwhile, Archibald Alexander Hodge, eldest of the Hodge children, had married and sought an appointment to India as a missionary. After about three years on that field, his wife’s health was failing and her physician said it was impossible for her to remain in India. Returning to the States, Alexander and his family moved back to the home of Dr. Charles Hodge. Archibald soon accepted a call to a small church in Cecil county, Maryland, near the Pennsylvania border, but here his support was meager and he had to teach to augment his income. Some time later a second call took him to Fredericksburg, Virginia, where he became the pastor of a more prosperous church, serving that church from 1855-1861.

When the Civil War broke out, A.A. Hodge surrendered the Fredericksburg pulpit and managed to take his family and travel through West Virginia and Maryland into Pennsylvania, and finally to the home of Charles Hodge in New Jersey. Without much delay, he soon received an appointment to pastor the Presbyterian Church in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., and afterwards, when a vacancy occurred in the Western Theological Seminary at Allegheny, by the resignation of the Rev. William S. Plumer, Alexander was made professor of theology in that institution. He remained in that post until 1877, when he was called to Princeton, to serve as his father’s associate.

When A.A. Hodge left the church at Wilkes-Barre, Pa., the church next called the Rev. Samuel Dod, who served the church for four years, leaving late in 1868. Upon his departure, the church now turned to the Rev. Francis Blanchard Hodge with “a call so urgent, and pressed with so much importunity, that, after much hesitation, and with many regrets, he left his friends at Oxford, and settled at Wilkes-Barre.”

There in Wilkes-Barre he found new and admiring friends who were devoted to his ministry, his preaching, and his support. And there he remained as faithful pastor for the next thirty-five years, one of the longest pastorates in the history of that church. Under his leadership, the congregation grew significantly. Two-thirds of the annual church budget was allocated to benevolences. And a new modern building was constructed in the late 1880′s, and dedicated in 1894, free of any debt. Perhaps as an indication of how much he was devoted to the work of being a pastor, it does not appear that he authored any works for publication.

The Rev. Francis Blanchard Hodge, D.D. died in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania on May 13, 1905. Representing the Presbytery, Dr. McLeod, Dr. Brooks, and Dr. Logan followed the remains to Princeton, accompanied by a large delegation from the Wilkes-Barre Church. The pall-bearers were members of his Church who were also students at Princeton. With services conducted by Dr. Francis Landey Patton, president of the Seminary, the mortal remains of Rev. Francis B. Hodge were laid to rest in the Princeton Cemetery.

Words to Live By:
“I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth, as we have received a commandment from the Father.” (2 John 4, KJV)

What a joy, what a great blessing it is to see our children walking in the faith, growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have a commandment to walk in the truth of the Gospel. Let us so live, and serve as an example to our children, trusting the Lord for their salvation.

Sources:

Image: Stoddard, Dwight J., Prominent Men: Scranton and Vicinity, Wilkes-Barre and Vicinity,… Scranton, PA: The Tribune Publishing Co., 1906, p. 202.

Tags: , , ,

May 12: Rev. & Mrs. Albert Dodd

12 May, 2014 in May 2014 by archivist | No comments

A Great Address from a Man Small in Stature

The smaller man of stature was waiting at the Chinese dock for his former student friend from Princeton Theological Seminary that day in 1904.  When he did not appear on the deck of their steamer, he was disappointed.  But who was standing there waiting to exit the boat was a young American woman by the name of Mabel Mennie.   Later, they would find out that they were both from the state of Missouri.  And Albert Baldwin Dodd, Presbyterian missionary to China, would obviously find out later of that meeting on that Shanghai, China dock was no accident.  The sovereign God makes no mistakes.  She would become his wife soon and become the mother to their four children in God’s good time, all born in China.

Albert and Mable Dodd would labor for 32 years in China under the Board for Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian U.S.A. church.  Founder and professor of North China Theological Seminary, he saw the approaching apostasy of the home church as it evidenced itself in foreign missionaries sent to the field of China.  Indeed, it was he who revealed that apostasy to Dr. J. Graham Machen, who spread by publication and proclamation the issue of foreign missions before the people in the Presbyterian denomination.  When request after request was denied from that foreign missions board, it was Machen, with others,  who organized the Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions in 1933.   And among the veteran missionaries who joined that faithful board was Albert and Mable Dodd, who would continue their  service for another 39 years, first in China, then on the island of Taiwan.

On May 12, 1936, Albert Dodd was the commencement speaker at the Witherspoon Building in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for Westminster Theological Seminary’s seventh graduating class.  Speaking on the subject “Be Strong,”  this famed missionary began his sermon with the following  words:

“You young men of Westminster Seminary are deliberately choosing to face a hopeless situation and to set your hands to an utterly impossible task — from a human standpoint.  Magnificently equipped with a clear-cut knowledge of, and love for, the gospel which is the power of God unto salvation, and imbued by staunch martyr-spirited professors who count not the cost, with the divinely prescribed and only right attitude toward false brethren who would pervert that gospel, you are being called of God to the task of taking the message of salvation, in an age of intense crisis, to a world wherein countless millions have never heard, and to minister to a rapidly apostasizing church which is more and more inclined to reject that message and to hate and persecute that attitude.  Never before, not in any other calling, have stronger men been needed.”

The reader is invited to read the entire address as it is found in the Presbyterian Guardian Archive on-line for June 1, 1936, Volume 2, number 5, on pages 95-99 of that issue. No wonder the reporter of that magazine commented, “the veteran missionary carried his listeners along with him on a crest of conviction and spiritual power.”

Dr. Dodd, from texts like Ephesians 6:10 and 2 Timothy 2:1, challenged the graduating seniors and guests to be strong in the work of evangelism, be strong in the battle for the faith of the gospel, and be strong to love much, even those who are our enemies.  Such a message would be needful, for before the year was out, the Bible-believers in the Presbyterian church, would be outside the camp, but courageously caring on the work of the Lord in the church and in the world.

Words to Live By: Being strong in the Lord is a necessary trait in the home, at your calling, and in the church.  The only difference today from the days of Dr. Albert Dodd is that the intensity of the spiritual strength needed has increased a hundred fold.  But greater is He who is within you than he who is in the world.

For Further Study:
To read the full address by Dr. Dodd, click here.

For more on the seminary in China where Dr. Dodd taught, see the article by A. Donald MacLeod, “Watson Hayes and the North China Theological Seminary.“

Tags: , , ,

May 11: An Entry in J. J. Janeway’s Diary

11 May, 2014 in May 2014 by davidtmyers | No comments

Lacking a sermon tied to today’s date, we will visit again today the always profitable diary of the Rev. Jacob J. Janeway, the Philadelphia pastor and close friend of the early Princeton professors.

 

J.J. JanewayMay 11. “By the blessing of God I perceive the necessity of acquiring more courage. I have in the last week made struggles to overcome my fear of the face of man. I endeavoured to shame myself out of it, to summon the energies of my soul, and blessed be God, I have gained ground. Oh! my soul, how shameful for thee, who hadst the Almighty Jehovah on thy side, to be afraid of any creature. Oh! to have no fear before my eyes but the fear of God. The Lord assist me in the sermon on which I am now laboring. May the Spirit give me such clear and penetrating views, that I may, with force, conviction, and effect, illustrate the happiness of the good man. For Christ’s sake—Amen.”  

Tags:

May 10: James Hamilton Dies in Ireland

10 May, 2014 in May 2014 by davidtmyers | 1 comment

Deposed by Man, but Not By God

They called them “precopalians,” which strange as it may sound (and spell!), was  defined as Scottish Presbyterians who were leading Anglican congregations in northern Island, or Ulster.  At one time, in the seventeenth century, there were 27 Presbyterian ministers in churches in Ulster, all there to pastor the large number of Ulster Scottish families in the area.

Our post today deals with the Rev. James Hamilton, who traveled before he was ordained to Ulster.  Even after graduation from the University of Glasgow, he went to Ireland where his uncle had vast acreage in the northern part of Ireland. In time, our young man was noticed by a Presbyterian minister by the name of Robert Blair, who encouraged James to enter the ministry. It was on March 3, 1626 that James Hamilton was ordained as a minister in the Church of Ireland by the Irish bishop Robert Echlin. Hamilton began his pastorate in the Ballywalter Church and stayed there for a decade. The church later on became a Presbyterian Church, perhaps by the solid doctrinal preaching of Pastor Hamilton, as he is listed at their first pastor.

The presence of so many Presbyterians in the Irish churches brought the inevitable clash between who was the head of the church—the king of England or the Lord Jesus. When the Church of Ireland sought to bring subservience to the former and urged that the Presbyterian ministers deny the National Covenant of 1638, which had just been signed, James Hamilton resigned. He offered, along with two other ministers, to debate the matter, but the bishop simply deposed him from the ministry. He was ordered to be arrested, but escaped from their hands.

Around this time, Hamilton with three other Presbyterian ministers and 140 Ulster Scots commissioned a sailing vessel known as the Eagle Wing to sail to America. However due to storms, a broken rudder, and other calamities, the ship had to return to Ireland. Hamilton traveled on to Scotland and became involved with the Covenanters. He eventually became the minister of the Presbyterian Church of Dumfrees, Scotland.

It is interesting that he returned to Ireland for various purposes, once even to administer the Solemn League and Covenant in Ulster. Why he was not arrested, we don’t know, other than the providential care of God watching over him. On one of his trips to Northern Ireland, his ship was captured by forces not conducive to his faith. He served 10 months in prison but was set free in 1645. Returning to Scotland, he was appointed by the General Assembly to be a chaplain to King Charles II, but wound up with another prison sentence in the Tower of London.  Oliver Cromwell eventually gave him his freedom.  He eventually retired in Edinburgh.

James Hamilton died this day, May 10, 1666.

Words to Live By: A learned and diligent pastor, his life and ministry was certainly filled with hardship and difficulty. Even in his married live to wife Elizabeth Watson, this union would produce 15 children, with only one living to adulthood and the rest dying in infancy. God’s servants have often lived in hardship and difficulty. Think of Paul’s description of his ministry in 2 Corinthians 6:4 – 10 and 11:23 – 27. James Hamilton was deposed from his office by man, but supported by God’s Spirit in his life and ministry, always faithful to live and work in God’s will.  Let us, dear readers, keep busy serving our God and King, leaving the results of that service  in the hands of the Lord.  Romans 8:28 reads, “And we know that God causes all things (i.e. the sufferings of this present time) to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” (NAS)

Tags:

« Older entries § Newer entries »