November 2015

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November 9: Princeton Graduates Its First Class

9 November, 2015 in November 2015 by archivist | No comments

Princeton [i.e., the College of New Jersey] graduates its first class

The history of early Presbyterian education is substantially the history of Princeton College. When Mr. Tennent died in 1745 his school was closed. Yet such had been its usefulness that the Synod of New York immediately, in 1746, took steps to perpetuate that institution of learning. It was located first at Elizabethtown, New Jersey, and Jonathan Dickinson was its first president. The students, except those of the village, boarded in the family of the president. Dr. Dickinson died shortly, and the school was removed to Newark in order to be placed under the care of Rev. Aaron Burr, so that he might accept the presidency without resigning his pastorate. The first class of six young men graduated November 9, 1748.

In 1753 Rev. Gilbert Tennent and Rev. Samuel Davies were appointed by Synod to visit England and solicit aid for the college. In the face of very great prejudices against them and the theology which they represented, after a year’s canvass in England, Scotland and Ireland, they had secured widespread sympathy and public endorsement of the enterprise. They succeeded, financially, far beyond their expectation. The total sum raised must have approached, if it did not pass beyond, twenty-five thousand dollars.


Words To Live by:

Presbyterians have always sought and promoted an educated, thoroughly trained pastorate. The challenges presented by the world, the flesh and the devil require that much. Moreover, the Gospel ministry is not to be entered into lightly, and deserves our best efforts. And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.—Deut. 6:5. If this command is true for believers, how much more so for those who would shepherd the Lord’s people?

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November 8: Van Horn on WSC Q. 47

8 November, 2015 in November 2015 by archivist | No comments

STUDIES IN THE WESTMINSTER SHORTER CATECHISM
by Rev. Leonard T. Van Horn

Q. 47. —What is forbidden in the first commandment?

A. — The first commandment forbiddeth the denying, or not worshipping and glorifying, the true God, as God, and our God; and the giving the worship and glory to any other, which is due to Him alone.

Scripture References: Ps. 14:1; Rom. 1:20-21; Ps. 81:11; Rom. 1:25.

Questions:

1. What are the two sins forbidden in the first commandment?

The two sins forbidden are atheism and idolatry.

2. What is atheism?

In its strictest definition, atheism means the denial of the existence of any god of any kind. Paul uses it in Ephesians 2:12 to refer to people who are without God before their conversion.

3. Is there such a person as a true atheist?

It is difficult to come to a conclusion regarding this. It would seem difficult to believe that such exists as one wonders how any man could consistently and persistently throughout his life never have the least fear of God or doubt that there is no God.

4. Is it possible for a Christian to practice atheism?

It is not possible for a Christian to practice atheism in its strictest definition but there is a practical type that a Christian is guilty of practical atheism when he slights or neglects God, even when he knows God through Christ.

5. What is idolatry?

Idolatry in its strictest sense is the religious worship of idols. that is images or pictures. In its wider sense, it is all religious worship other than that offered to the true God.

6. How many ways can a person be guilty of idolatry?

A person can be guilty of idolatry by (1) Having and worshipping other gods beside the one true God in an outward way such as when he worships heathen gods, or angels or saints, or when he seeks to worship God through visible representations. (2) Giving honor and respect to anything in the world that is only due God in an inward way. This would be heart idolatry and would be in opposition to Matt. 16:24-“Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself.”

DENY HIMSELF AND TAKE UP HIS CROSS

Whenever we consider the first commandment as born again Christians we should immediately recognize the connection between keeping the first commandment and the teaching of our Lord in Matt. 16:24-“Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” There is an important connection between the commandment and this command of our Lord. It is important for us to have before us at all times the New Testament teaching of the cross of Christ for the Christian. It is strange and hard to understand how we can stand in our churches and sing:

“Jesus, keep me near the cross;
There a precious fountain,
Free to all, a healing stream,
Flows from Calvary’s mountain.”

and not understand that we are singing it as Christians and that it has a message for us. When Paul said, “I am crucified with Christ” he was not simply stating a cliche that would win popularity among the Christians. He was stating a very vital principle, one that will keep us from breaking the first commandment and enable us to live a life of victory. He was trying to tell us in that passage, and many other passages likened to it, that there is a doctrine of the Christian’s identification with the Cross of Christ. The sixth chapter of Romans is filled with this doctrine and yet we seem to bypass it time and time again. Some bypass it because they don’t want to be labeled as those involved with the “deeper life” movement. Some bypass it because they have never noticed it. More bypass it because they know it will interfere with what they want to do, when. they want to do it!

Barnhouse put it so well, “We have seen that God looks upon us as having died with Christ, and this fact makes possible the triumph of the Christian life.” Again, “The real crucifixion of our old man can be done to us only by the Lord Himself, and He will do it if we submit to Him.” The matter of denying ourselves and taking up our cross (submitting to Him in all areas of our life) is an important aspect of claiming the Victory already won for us on the Cross of Calvary. However, many of God’s children never realize the victory was won nor how to claim it nor that they can claim it. And then they fall prey to breaking the first commandment by putting self on the throne and giving to other things the esteem and affection that God alone ought to possess. (Luke 14:26). May God help us, all to His glory, to be willing to be crucified with Christ, that self may be dethroned in our lives moment by moment.

Published By: The SHIELD and SWORD, INC.
Vol. 4 No. 45 (September 1964)
Rev. Leonard T. Van Horn, Editor

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November 7: Conrad Speece

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

A Systematic Preacher and a Punctual Presbyter

by David T. Myers

Some have already carved into their tombstone on a little plot of ground in the neighborhood cemetery the words we wish relatives and visitors to view when they visit our graves. In your author’s case, I placed a summary of Psalm 84:11 stating, “The Lord gives grace and glory.” It is my hope and prayer that unbelievers will read that and be convinced that to enjoy glory, they must experience God’s saving grace. But this graveyard message pales beside the gravestone greeting of the Rev. Conrad Speece which is found on his tombstone in the Old Cemetery Burying Ground of the Augusta Stone Presbyterian Church. It reads:

“Sacred to the memory of Rev. Conrad Speece For more than twenty-two years, Pastor of Augusta Stone Church. Born Nov 7 1776 Died Feb 15, 1836. He consecrated a mind rich in generous learning to the service of his Savior in the great work of the gospel ministry, til they shall stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Reader, if in his life he tried in vain to save, hear him at last, I heard him from the grave.” Truly even in death, Conrad Speece wished to convict and convince readers of the gospel truths.

Born November 7, 1776 in New London, Virginia, Conrad Speece was of German heritage. His grandfather, also named Conrad Speece, had emigrated over to the colonies. On his parent’s farm, an early teacher saw his potential and urged his parents to send him to a special school. But they would not and could not due to the expense of that education. In God’s providence, the school heard of him and provided him with a four year gift of free education. Relatives provided the board for him, and he began his studies.

He was an eager student, even mastering Latin. Those studies were interrupted for the young master when in 1795, his mother died. That death caused Conrad to seek the way of salvation. However, he did not realize the depravity of his own heart, thinking that salvation was available to those who worked hard for it. Unsaved school mates in a change of schooling, namely Liberty Hall Academy, banished eternal things from his mind. But the Presbyterian leanings of the academy, (which later became Washington and Lee University), led him steadily to the gospel truths. In his own words, he said, “I was enabled to cast myself with mingled joy and trembling by faith, on the rich mercy of God, in Christ for salvation, and to devote myself to His service.” Joining in April 1796 the membership of Presbyterian Church of New Monmouth, Virginia, he received his first communion.

Beginning to preach in various empty pulpits, even without ordination, he proclaimed the gospel mainly in non-Presbyterian congregations. He had a problem understanding and receiving infant baptism. It was only after reading a book by Richard Baxter that he understood the biblical basis for the doctrine and then received it gladly. Ordained by the Presbytery of Baltimore, he eventually became the third pastor of the Augusta Stone Presbyterian Church in Virginia. Truly there, he served his Savior in the great work of proclaiming the unsearchable riches of Christ. Conrad Speece died February 17, 1836.

Words to Live By:
Our title tells us that he loved to preach systematically the Word of God in the pulpit and was faithful to attend the wider church as a “punctual presbyter.” As such, he was able to reach into people’s lives with the spiritual truth of the Triune God and the great redemption He brings upon mankind. My readers: speak words of encouragement to your pastor this Sunday. Tell Him how much you appreciate his hard work. Write notes of blessing to him. And yes, pray for Him weekly.

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November 6: The Westminster Theological Journal

6 November, 2015 in November 2015 by archivist | 2 comments

WTJ1938v1The PCA Historical Center was recently blessed with accession of the first four issues of THE WESTMINSTER THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL (1938-1940). As you might imagine, these issues are rather scarce, and we’re pleased to be able to add them to our research library. Still missing from our collection are Volumes 3 through 17 (1940-1954), but Lord willing, in time we hope to find these as well. 

That accession prompts our post today, and lacking a specific date in this instance, let’s just say that it was probably in that first week of the month, maybe around November 6, in 1938, when pastors, elders and interested laymen would have gone to their mailboxes and found waiting for them the first issue of THE WESTMINSTER THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL. That first issue—Volume 1, number 1—bears the date of November 1938. Seventy-seven years later, the JOURNAL continues in its mission. That mission was clearly stated on the opening pages of that first issue, and as both the Seminary and its JOURNAL have played an important part in the conservative Presbyterian movement of the 20th and 21st centuries, it seems relevant to present our readers with the commitments, hopes and intentions laid out by the editors at that time :

TO OUR READERS

If we are not mistaken (and editors, like others, sometimes make mistakes), more periodicals are dying than are being born at the present time. The Westminster Theological Journal in sending out its first issue is, therefore, going against the current of the times. It is doing that in a more important sense, however, than merely by the fact of publication. The Journal is founded upon the conviction that the Holy Scriptures are the word of God, the only infallible rule of faith and of practice, and that the system of belief commonly designated the Reformed Faith is the purest and most consistent formulation and expression of the system of truth set forth in the Holy Scriptures.

This position is the position of the Faculty of Westminster Theological Seminary, and the Journal is edited by two members of that Faculty on behalf of the entire body.

We stand today in the Christian Church as debtors to nineteen centuries of Christian history, thought, and experience. It would not only be futile but wrong to try to dissociate ourselves from the great stream of Christian tradition. Other men laboured and we have entered into their labours. It is only by thorough acquaintance with and appreciation of the labours of God’s servants in the centuries that have passed that we can intelligently and adequately present the Christian Faith in the present.

But while we cling tenaciously to the heritage that comes to us from the past we must ever remember that it is our responsibility to present the Christian Faith in the context of the present. The position we maintain, therefore, necessarily involves the bringing of every form of thought that may reasonably come within the purview of a theological acuity to the touchstone of Holy Scripture and the defining of its relations to our Christian Faith.

The need for a scholarly theological journal in this country to uphold historic Christianity is very great. Certain periodicals that at one time supplied this need have ceased to exist. Into the breach The Westminster Theological Journal aims to enter.

The policy of the Journal will be:
1. To maintain the highest standard of scholarship;
2. To publish contributions which will promote the study of theology and the interests of the Reformed Faith;
3. To publish reviews of current literature of importance to the Christian Church and to theological study.

The Faculty is undertaking this task with humility and confidence. They do so with humility because they are aware of the responsibility and of their own insufficiency. Yet they do it with confidence because they believe they are on the side of the truth, and in reliance upon divine grace and power. The battle is the Lord’s, and as His is the wisdom and strength so to Him shall be all the glory.

THE EDITORS

[Note: Professors Paul Woolley and John Murray served as editors of the JOURNAL from 1938 until May 1953, at which time Murray resigned. Woolley continued, first as editor and later as managing editor, until May 1967.]

Pictured below: The inside of the front cover, showing the contents of Volume 1, number 1 (November 1938). The Stonehouse article was a print version of his inaugural lecture, upon installation as Professor of New Testament. —

WTJ1938_inside

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November 4: Samuel Irenaeus Prime

4 November, 2015 in November 2015 by archivist | No comments

Not the Optimus Prime, but Maybe Close.

PrimeSIBorn in Ballston, New York on this day, November 4, 1812. He obtained his college education at Williams College, graduating there in 1829. After a brief delay, he entered the Princeton Theological Seminary as part of the Class of 1833 and was later ordained by the Presbytery of Albany, June 4, 1835, being installed as the pastor of the Presbyterian church in his home town of Ballston. Rev. Prime remained in this pulpit, 1835-36, and then answered a call to serve the Presbyterian church in the town of Matteawan, New York, about one hundred twenty miles south of Ballston.

Prime remained at Matteawan from 1837-1840, when the opportunity arose to serve as the assistant editor of The New York Observer. This paper was one of many Christian newspapers published in that era, and here Rev. Prime truly began his life’s work. In this capacity he labored from 1840-1848, stepping away from the post only for a few years, 1848-1849, to serve as Secretary of the American Bible Society. Thereafter, Prime took on the role of lead editor of The New York Observer, and remained at this post from 1850 until his death in 1885. By that time the paper had become something of a family business, with his brother and his son running the paper after his death.

Rev. Prime proved to be a prolific author and a valuable contributor to the wider culture. He founded the New York Association for the Advancement of Science and Art, served as president and trustee of Wells College and also as a trustee of his alma mater, Williams College. Honors conferred upon him during his lifetime included the Doctor of Divinity degree from Hampden-Sydney College (1854). Rev. Prime passed away on July 18, 1885, while residing in Manchester, Vermont. Time does not today permit me to list his many publications, some of which can be found on the Web, here.

Words to Live By:
Sometimes we start out in life headed off in one direction, only to find that the Lord brings our way, entirely unexpected, a change for the better. It was a common expression among the Puritans that the Lord never removes one blessing, but what He gives a greater. The God whom we serve purposes only to bless His children. There are times when that blessing may not seem like a blessing, but God always has in view what is best for us, and we can find rest in knowing that He is good and that He loves us, not for who we are, but for who we are in Christ our Savior.

 

 

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