Home Religion was an Important Part of Colonial Presbyterianism

With tens of thousands of Scots–Irish Presbyterians coming to Cumberland County of Pennsylvania, various Presbyterian churches were organized in the seventeen-hundreds through0out central Pennsylvania.  One such congregation was Big Spring Presbyterian Church in Newville, just west of Carlisle.

After several pastors filled the pulpit at Big Spring on a temporary basis, a call was finally extended on March 21, 1787 to the Samuel Wilson, with the prayer that he would serve as their full-time pastor.  The young man must have shown great promise, for he was not yet even ordained! But after passing his ordination exams at the Presbytery of Donegal, Rev. Wilson was installed as pastor on June 20, 1787.  It was said that his pastorate was one of activity and prosperity for the congregation. He labored there at Big Spring for thirteen years—until 1799.

Evidently, Rev. Wilson possessed the gift of administration. He composed long lists, providing the ages of all members and adherents. Dividing them into districts, Samuel Wilson assigned a ruling elder over each district. These elders, among other duties, had the ministry of visiting each family and adherent on an annual basis. These were no social times.  Pastor Wilson had given to each elder, and those family members underneath their oversight, various questions of understanding, complete with catechisms to memorize from the Westminster Standards.  We have two samples of questions upon which the annual visits would ask and expect answers.

In Ruling Elder John Carson’s district, the first book of the Bible was the focus. His questions were:
1. Who was the penman of Genesis? When was it written? What length of time does its history contain?;
2. What are the principal doctrines and events?;
3. What do you understand by creation, and is it a work peculiar to God only?;
4. What seems to be the order of creation and what is the work of each day?;
5. What are those called who do not acknowledge divine revelation?  What objections do they offer against Moses and how are their writing confuted?;
6. What rational arguments can be offered in favor of Moses, that his mission was from God and his writings were of divine inspiration?;
7. What Scriptural prophecies have been fulfilled, and what at present is fulfilling or yet to be fulfilled?
After these questions had been discussed with each family, there was then an examination upon the ninth chapter of the Confession of Faith! Elder Carlson was a busy man, for he had 24 families in his district!

Elder William Lindsay had seven questions given by Pastor Wilson to his flock of members.  They were:
1.  What are the different kinds of faith in Scripture?;
2. What are the marks of true faith?;
3. Where does saving faith lie in assent or consent?;
4. What reason would you assign why no actions are acceptable to God, but such as flow from faith?;
5. Will it then follow, that wicked and unregenerate persons may as well transgress the law, as endeavor the observance of it?
6. Must we turn from sin in order to come to Christ by faith?
7. Seeing faith is the act of a believing soul, in what sense is it said to be the gift of God?
After these questions were asked and answered, Chapter 8 of the Confession of Faith was discussed.

Biblical Christianity was to be practiced not only within the four walls of the Church, but also inside the houses which made up the homes of Presbyterian families. And spiritually minded elders were to serve as true spiritual overseers of each family.

Words to Live By:
Pray for the elders of your church, that they might shepherd aright the church of God, which He has purchased with His own blood. How comfortable would you be if similar type questions were asked of your family in an elder’s visitation? Do you feel that such Scriptural exams would be profitable to your family? The local church specifically? What might you do to suggest such an approach to the people of God?

“Divine Judgments upon Tyrants” by Jacob Cushing  (April 20, 1778)

What is God’s view on certain political matters or events? That is a question often asked . . . and often mocked. Centuries earlier, however, preachers and their audiences were more sympathetic with the notion that God might actually have moral opinions on the acts of human beings. Earlier preachers like Jacob Cushing were not as timid as some today.

Jacob Cushing (1730-1809) was a graduate of Harvard in the mid-18th century, and he served as a pastor in Waltham, Massachusetts, nearly a half century, from 1752 on. He had 15 sermons published and kept a full diary that supplements his sermons. This was his only political treatise that was published and it was in commemoration of the tyrannical acts at Lexington on April 19, 1775—the first day in America military history that would live in infamy.

In this sermon (based on Dt. 32:43)—his only political sermon published—Cushing begins with a sound foundation, i. e., that God is not the deity of Deism; rather, he is the God who is quite involved in his creation and is neither so distant nor impotent as to carry moral suasion.

His sermon commences with the words “That there is a God” is not only the “prime foundation of all religion,” but if he is a particular type of God, his omnipotent actions will be flow into human events in public squares as well. A God devoid of providence, thought Cushing, was a solitary fiction who would yield little but “gloomy apprehensions.” Instead, God’s providence excites our gratitude and comforts during affliction. He is the sovereign God who “interests himself in the affairs of mankind,” and rational beings should consider how is providence is meted out.

He urged his audience to reflect on “the murderous war, rapine, and devastation” three years earlier on April 19, 1775. From the outset his purpose was practical, urging: “Under this visitation, or the greatest trials imaginable, we have abundant consolation, that God rules in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of this earth.” Specifically, that God would avenge the blood of his servants—the concluding words of Moses’ song in Deuteronomy 32—is designed to assure his people and to fortify them in resisting tyrants. This Deuteronomy prophecy is not limited to Israel, he preached, but applies to all God’s “chosen, though oppressed and injured people in all generations, that he will recompense their wrongs”—plead their cause—and do justice upon their enemies.

His subheadings, then, are:

1. That in his righteous providence, God sometimes allows “the sons of violence to oppress his saints and people.” God over-rules all things and at times chastises or reforms his imperfect church and people with oppressors. God’s variety of workings includes even the use of “revolting, sinful people.” These conditions should be met with humility and prayers for God’s mercies.
2. God will avenge his people, eventually and particularly, against tyrants. God’s adversaries will not escape his providential vengeance. One method of confirming this is to review the biblical record to ascertain where and how God has overthrown a variety of enemies and tyrants “through the powerful influence of a wise providence.” Here Cushing cites the examples of Edom, Haman, Babylon, and times of persecution.
3. Next, Cushing reminds his listeners of the promise in Deuteronomy 32, namely, that God will also show kindness and compassion to the penitent—in stark contrast to his providential judgment against tyrants. Again, he cites numerous biblical instances of this, and assures his readers that “the intention of God’s severe dispensations” is “not the destruction of his people but their amendment.”

By way of application (“improvement”) he includes the following:

• That God will render vengeance to his adversaries, and do justice to the enemies of his church.
• That God will be merciful to his people, his humble, penitent, praying people, and will in his own way and time, avenge, the blood of his servants.
• That therefore we have abundant cause to rejoice with his people; and to yield cheerful and constant obedience to him.

The sermon concludes with some graphic language that was, indeed, intended to “stir up minds.” It seemed clear to this 18th century preacher that the British marauders fulfilled this Deuteronomic passage and that little new could be added to inspire his listeners about that “awful day.” Here’s the word picture he drew: “. . . the enemy came upon us like a flood, stealing a march from Boston, through by-ways, under the darkness and silence of the night; and cowards and robbers, attacked us altogether defenceless; and cruelly murdered the innocent, the aged and helpless.” Accordingly they are described by the prophet, as persons whose hands are defiled with blood; adding, “their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands. Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity, wasting and destruction are in their paths.”

Still, Cushing observed “the kindness of our almighty Preserver, that no more were slain by the hand of violence; and that . . . the hand of God was visible in these things; and power and goodness of God manifested in our deliverance, from the enraged, disappointed enemy, is to be devoutly retained in memory, and thankfully acknowledged.” He further appropriated the words of Psalm 124 to the American patriots, and applied the opening words of that psalm, “to ourselves and circumstances, with a little variation; ‘If it had not been the Lord, who was on our side, now may New England say: If it had not been the Lord, who was on our side, when men rose up against us; then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us,’ and began to break out in fierceness: In their furious rage they would have suddenly devoured us, and laid waste the country.”

God’s infinite mercy prevailed, and the “barbarous savage enemies were put into fear; they were made to flee before us, and hastily to retreat (as wild beast to their dens) before a few scattered, undisciplined freemen: Not to our courage or conduct, but to God’s name be all the praise and glory.” Toward the end, he exhorted:

If this war be just and necessary on our part, as past all doubt it is, then we are engaged in the work of the Lord, which obliges us (under God mighty in battle) to use our ‘swords as instruments of righteousness, and calls us to the shocking, but necessary, important duty of shedding human blood’; not only in defence of our property, life and religion, but in obedience to him who hath said, ‘Cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood.’

Moreover, he also addressed the militia and called on them to cultivate “a martial spirit, and to strive to excel in the art of war.” Most importantly, he called for “honorable and shining character,” befitting true Christians. He set in perspective the fleetingness of this life and called on his hearers to be willing to suffer. And he exhorted them to devoutly worship, honor, and fear the true Lord of all armies. While enemies had a temporary victory, ultimately the Lord of hose would honor all his promises—and his curses—and care for his people. Their calling was to faithful “duty, interest, liberty, religion and life, every thing worth enjoyment, [which] demand speedy and the utmost exertions.”

Cushing was quick to cite two previous anniversary sermons, one by Rev. Clark in 1776, and the other by Rev. Cooke, his spiritual father (see in these posts), from 1777. With this, and along with the previous post in this series by Henry Cumings, a homiletic tradition of commemorating certain providential days that will go down in history as infamy is being established.

The full sermon is posted at: http://consource.org/document/divine-judgments-upon-tyrants-by-jacob-cushing-1778-4-20/. It is also contained in Ellis Sandoz’s Political Sermons of the American Founding Era.

by Dr. David W. Hall, Pastor
Midway Presbyterian Church

The Westminster Abbey of the United States
by David T. Myers

The title of this post came from a remark made in the latter part of the eighteen hundreds describing the Cemetery of Princeton, New Jersey. And that description is justified by the saints who make up the “inhabitants” of this historic cemetery.

This author has chosen the birthday of March 18, 1837 of the twenty-second and twenty-fourth president of the United States, Grover Cleveland, as our introduction to our post today. The son of a Presbyterian minister, he was the only President from New Jersey And while he was a Presbyterian during his time in the White House, by his own admission he did not focus on that religious affiliation, like Benjamin Harrison did when he was the president between Cleveland’s terms. After his role as the chief executive in our nation’s capitol, Grover Cleveland returned to New Jersey, and specifically Princeton, New Jersey for eleven years until his death. The White House still sends a wreath and a military escort to place on his grave on this day of his birth.

But he is just one of the many notable persons who are buried in this “Westminster Abbey”. For our purposes, we are much more interested in the spiritual “greats” of Princeton Theological Seminary, that great school of the prophets, from its beginning in 1812 up until 1929, when it was still the bastion of Biblical and Reformed theology in the Presbyterian church.

Think about these theological giants of the faith who are buried in this cemetery which began in 1757. To name just a few, they are Archibald Alexander (1772 – 1851), James Waddel Alexander (1804 – 1859), and Joseph Addison Alexander (1808 – 1860).

Of this one great family, A. A. Hodge once said, “I never go to Princeton without visiting the graves of the Alexanders – father and sons – and I never think of them without having my poor staggering faith in God and in regenerated humanity strengthened. Let us uncover our heads and thank God for them.”

Continuing the Presbyterian notables, Aaron Burr, Sr. (1716 – 1757), who was the first to be buried in the cemetery, Samuel Davies (1723 – 1761), Jonathan Edwards (1703 –1758), Charles Hodge (1797 – 1878), Archibald Alexander Hodge (1823 – 1886), Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield (1851 – 1921) [that’s Warfield’s grave pictured  above], and John Witherspoon (1723 – 1794).

The cemetery, which is still receiving burials, is under the oversight of Nassau Presbyterian Church, PCUSA, in Princeton, NJ.

Here is a quiz for our readers: J Gresham Machen and Geerhardus Vos are NOT buried in this Westminster Abby of the United States. Where are they buried? (And you cannot Google it!)

Words to Live By:
Countless newer churches in our Presbyterian and Reformed denominations do not set aside land for a cemetery. Of this omission, we are sad, for church cemeteries are spiritually uplifting sites. Yes, there are humorous stones, like one on a tombstone in Princeton’s Cemetery, “I told you I was sick!” But primarily, Christian memorials are witnesses to the grace and glory of God. As we read them, our poor staggering faith in God and in regenerated humanity is strengthened. Yes, we can have monuments of grace in city cemeteries, like that of Edward and Eleanor Kellogg’s monument in Leesburg, Virginia, which states at its bottom, “Saved by Grace.” That is a continuing witness to all who pass by. But so are those monuments in church cemeteries. Press for a cemetery for your church.

A good reminder on our place in the Church, among the congregation, and before a watching world.

What Are My Duties?

[excerpted from THE CHARLESTON OBSERVER, 12.15 (14 April 1838) 58, col. 6.]

MY PASTOR AND MYSELF.

It is the duty of my pastor to “preach the Word”—to “watch for souls as they that must give account”—to “feed the flock over which the Holy Ghost has made him an overseer”—to “warn, reprove, and rebuke, with all long-suffering and doctrine”—to comfort the afflicted, support the weak, and be “all things to all men that he may win some” to Christ. But it is not my object to specify all the duties which devolve upon him in his relation as a Minister of the Gospel, and as the Shepherd of a flock. These duties are delineated on the sacred pages in scattered fragments, and may be collected at leisure by every diligent student of the Bible. They are laid down for the most part in general terms, and relate to the care which he is to take of his own heart, “lest after having preached the Gospel to others he himself should be a castaway.”—to the improvement of his own mind, so that his “lips should keep knowledge,” and impart it to others—to his own temper and spirit, that he may prove “an example to the flock—and to the Church in particular and society at large, that he may “edify the body of Christ,” and bring in to the fold those who are wandering from the great Shepherd of Israel. From this hasty and very imperfect sketch it will be seen that his calling has a responsibility which no mere mortal man can adequately perform. Like every redeemed sinner, he must throw himself upon the grace of God, and there must be his reliance.

And now I have a word to say as to myself. I have been one of those who have demanded that my Pastor should exhibit a perfect character. And my standard of perfection has been drawn more from my own state of feeling than from the Word of God. If he did not preach to suit me I felt a disposition to complain. If he reproved, I thought him personal. If in his public performances he exhorted to a duty, I inwardly said that I would act my own pleasure about it. If he did not visit me as often as I thought he might, I looked upon him as neglecting his charge.—And when he did visit me I was not in a suitable frame of mind to be profited by the interview. I talked about him and against him to others, and thus sowed the seeds of dissatisfaction among the members of the Church. But was I right in this course? Can I justify it? Is it consistent with my covenant vows? And how can I answer for it when he and I shall meet at the judgment bar? These and similar reflections begin to give me serious concern. If a pastor has duties to perform, there are correspondent duties that belong to his people, and I am free to acknowledge that mind have not been done, and I too must, if I am to be forgiven, take sanctuary in the grace and mercy of God.

—CONFITEOR.
[The author here takes the Latin word for “I confess” as his pseudonymn]

For today’s post we turn to something that our good friend the Rev. David W. Hall wrote some years ago. As readers of this blog will know, Rev. Hall is currently authoring a series on Election Day Sermons that appears here on TDPH each Saturday. That series will run through the month of October. Today’s post, a small portion of a larger article, explores the role of the Christian faith during the years of the American revolution.

Religion, the Revolution, and the Founding
by Rev. David W. Hall

The 1776 Bill of Rights of Virginia affirmed that all men by nature possess rights to enjoy life and liberty, along with the means of obtaining such. These Virginians also viewed governmental power to be “vested in, and consequently derived from the people.” They affirmed that “magistrates are their [the citizens’] trustees and servants, and at all times amenable to them.” Civil government was limited to serve the ends of the commonweal, not to aggrandize individuals or segments of the populace. A majority of citizens had the “indubitable, inalienable, and indefeasible right to reform, alter, or abolish” a government if it did not serve the “public weal.”

This Old Dominion Bill of Rights asserted a separation of powers, limitation of terms (in order that “the members . . . may be restrained from oppression, by feeling and participating in the burdens of the people, they should at fixed periods, be reduced to a private station . . . and the vacancies filled” by others), free elections, representative federalism, and freedom of the press. It affirmed that “the freedom of the press is one of the great bulwarks of liberty . . . [it] can never be restrained but by despotic governments.”

This Virginia catalogue also confirmed the propriety of armed militias and the danger of standing armies in peacetime. This governmental platform depended on “firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue.” It also supported freedom of religion (“the duty which we owe to our Creator”) and mutual toleration.These views were shared by American Puritans and Calvinists in 1776.

Approximately three out of four Americans attended church services at the time, near an all-time high for America. Recent studies have noted that the Revolutionary period saw Christianity flourishing in America with an almost revivalistic fervor, as many of the sermons of the day indicate. Religion played a leading role in the American Revolution. The first order of the Continental Congress in September 1774 was to locate a minister to lead in prayer. Jacob Duche, a Philadelphia minister, served informally as a spiritual mentor until after the Declaration was adopted. Five days after the Declaration’s adoption, he was formally elected as a chaplain to the Congress. This same Congress called for a day of public prayer and fasting in July 1775, similar to the British parliamentarians four generations earlier. When this Congress commissioned a seal, the committee consisting of Franklin, Jefferson, and Adams came back with symbolism from the Book of Exodus, with George III caricatured as Pharoh, sporting the motto equating rebellion against tyrants with religious duty.

Congress on several occasions called for public fasts and days of humiliation and prayers. One such notable day, approved on March 16, 1776 (and signed by John Hancock), urged united hearts to make “sincere repentance and amendments of life” and to appease the righteous displeasure of “the Lords of Hosts, the God of armies” and “through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ” to “obtain his pardon and forgiveness.”

Two months later, another fast day was called by Congress, and this time they requested that ministers read the proclamation, similar to the distribution method for the Magna Carta and other ancient documents which had been circulated to churches. Another fast day, a fortnight after the Declaration (July 20), featured sermons by prominent Philadelphia clergy—Chaplain Jacob Duche (whose church featured a stained glass window with the motto, “The Church and Magna Carta”) and Presbyterian patriarch Francis Alison. Of this occasion, John Adams observed, “Millions will be on their Knees at once before their great Creator, imploring His forgiveness and Blessing, his Smiles on American Councils and Arms.” Several scholars have noted that the language of this July 20, 1776, (and other) proclamations is riddled with the covenant theology of the Swiss Reformation. “As old as the Reformation itself,” notes historian James Hutson, “this doctrine was embraced by all of the major Protestant groups who settled America, although it has become known as one of the signature statements of the New England Puritans.”

Words to Live By:
Our thanks to Rev. Hall for permission to use this portion of his article. It is right and proper that magistrates should call upon the Church to pray and even to fast. Indeed, Scripture commands us to pray for those in authority over us. (I Timothy 2:1-3). But to digress a bit and address something I’ve been thinking of recently, it is quite common to hear the words of II Chronicles 7:14 applied to the United States by well-meaning Christians. [Is this error unique to American evangelicalism, or does it appear elsewhere around the world and applied to other nations?]  “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” How shall that text be applied? As any good Reformed pastor or theologian will tell you, that verse originally applied to national Israel and by extension, the verse, as indicated by the words “My people,” must and can only today mean the Church. It is only Christians who are His people and who are called by His name. When the Church has fallen from where it should be, humble repentance and an earnest seeking after the Lord is the only due course of action. And the land that will be healed must then be the Church itself. For some very edifying reading, I would encourage you to take up and read a small book by John Preston, titled The Golden Sceptre Held forth to the Humble. The book consists of six sermons on the text of II Chronicles 7:14, and I think you will find it to be some of the best reading you’ve come across in quite some time, outside of Scripture.