This Day in Presbyterian History

Remember to praise God quite as much as to pray.

[excerpted from The English Presbyterian Messenger, New Series, No. 156 (December 1860): 375-376. Emphasis added.]

Some of our readers will peruse the following letter with interest and profit. It was not written for publication, but the Lord may make it useful for the edification of his own people. The friend who kindly sent it to us says :—

“ The enclosed letter, from a deeply tried and experienced Christian in Scotland, was sent to me the other day, along with two others, for my perusal. If you think with me that it is valuable, and can find space for it in “The Messenger,” it may, perhaps, prove a blessing to some souls. I have copied it, and I forward it to you almost entirely as I received it. You can do with it as you think proper.”

I——–, October 19th, 1800.

My Dear. Brother, — I was very glad to receive your kind and interesting letter. I value exceedingly the Christian friendship and brotherhood which the Lord permits me to enjoy. I value exceedingly your own ; but I desire grace ever to refer it all to the fountain, and to be flung back more than ever on the inestimable friendship of the Blessed One.

Dear brother, if it be sweet to have a friend—another poor, trembling heart like our own, to whom we can unbosom sorrow, assured that all will be looked at through the medium of a loving eye, and where no help can be given, sympathy, at least, will be felt; if this be precious, who can tell the preciousness of the sympathizing love of Jesus, who can feel as well as help, who can deal with us so gently and so wisely. No eye scans us with such gentle love as Jesus. Oh to have faith always as well in the love of his heart as in the power of his hand.

There is a little matter I would like to bring before you, dear brother, as having been used of the Lord to be exceedingly helpful to me; and although, perhaps, not needing it so much as I was, it may possibly be useful to you. Its benefit to me is incalculable. It is simply this. Remember to praise God quite as much as to pray. Now this is clearly scriptural. You will find in Scripture far more exhortations to praise than to prayer. The Psalms abound with them, line upon line, line upon line. God is served by praise, Psalm 50. 23. It is specially the Christian’s great service. Heb. xiii. 15 ; 1 Peter ii. 5—9. Now in looking at my own conduct in reference to this, I found it sadly neglected. My heart was little attuned to the blessed service of thanksgiving. I had infinite cause for thankfulness, but, alas! a thankless heart. I have sought to have this altered, and with happy results. I seek the spirit of praise quite as much as of prayer, and desire to cherish the feeling of happy thankfulness for mercies enjoyed, as well as believing prayer for mercies needed. Ofttimes when my cold heart cannot get into communion through the gates of prayer, I turn to the gate of praise, and in a minute or two am in the glorious presence. In certain states of soul, when the enemy rushes on me like Behemoth, and threatens to swallow me up, I fall down on my knees, and drawing near to God, through Jesus, begin to thank God for his mercies. And as the heart goes over the boundless and glorious list, it begins to glow, and the enemy is driven off. Ofttimes five minutes’ praise is blessed with a success that an hour’s praying fails to receive. Now, we have always matter for thankfulness ; and however low we are, let us begin there and come to God in our reality, and praise Him heartily for whatever blessing we feel laid on our hearts, I mean blessing in Christ Jesus. And oh, as faith gazes on that face, brighter than the sun in his strength, and listens to that voice, soft as the murmur of many waters, telling out the tenderness of His grace, the soul becomes as the chariots of Amminadib, and is caught up into heaven and brought very near. There is never between us and the joy of God’s presence any wall but the wall of unbelief. Alas, that we ever cherish and fondle it, and do our blessed Saviour, and the brethren, and ourselves this great wrong. For God is glorified, and others are helped, and our souls are blessed, precisely as we live in happy fellowship with our heavenly Father.

Dear brother, you may know all about this far better than I do, yet I would like to suggest your trying what benefit you might find in seeking to abound in faith with thanksgiving. Say that for a week you give up your heart to praise God for Jesus in all the relations in which you feel you can lay hold on him. In business, let your heart glance up every spare half-minute, just in a gleam of thankfulness, and one word of praise. By the way, to and from home, give up your heart to praise alone. At table let your wife and yourself provoke each other to gratitude and praise, by conversing on the excellencies of Jesus, and of Jesus as all your own. This does not interfere with your seasons of prayer. And, after the week, I am sure you will see occasion to seek God’s gift of the spirit of praise, as well as of prayer. When I blow out my candle in the evening, and sit gazing into the red coals for an hour, and letting the heart wander amid all the revelations of Divine love, back into a past eternity, forward into a coming eternity, to Calvary, to heaven ; taking everything only in connection with Jesus, and with Jesus as God’s gift to me, my heart begins to burn within me, selfish and temporal griefs disappear, Jesus himself fills my heart; and if any one were to offer me a kingdom for every sorrow I have, I could at such times scarcely manage honestly to muster a single one.

Dear brother, try it. When Satan casts us into prison, and puts our feet fast in the stocks, let us sing praises to God at midnight, and very soon God will send his angel, and there shall be an earthquake, and our chains shall fall off, and our souls be restored to liberty. “ O that men would praise the Lord for his goodness! ” Yes, that is our crying want, the want of a heart ever attuned to this blessed work of heaven.

With heartiest love, … I am, my dear brother,

Yours, humbly and affectionately,
J. D.

[excerpted from The English Presbyterian Messenger, New Series, No. 156 (December 1860): 375-376.]

Bringing Bibles and Rifles to Worship

It was in uncivilized territory where the Rev. Robert Cooper took his first pastorate in central Pennsylvania. Born in Northern Ireland in 1732, the young man stayed there for the first nine years of his life. When his father died, young Robert accompanied his widowed mother in 1741 to the American colonies across the Atlantic. Following so many of their Scot-Irish race, he studied at the College of New Jersey, now Princeton University, graduating there in 1763. As was common practice in that era, Robert prepared for the ministry by studying theology with a private tutor, and he was ordained to the gospel ministry on November 21, 1765. Within that same year, he was called to Middle Springs Presbyterian Church, just north of Shippensburg, Pennsylvania. He was to remain there for thirty-one years, finally leavening in 1797 due to declining health.

Worship in pre-Revolutionary times was a challenge, due to the presence of hostile native American in their region. The usual items brought to a worship service were a Bible (the Genevan edition, with Calvinistic footnotes), a hymn book (a Psalter for unaccompanied singing of psalms), and a  rifle, with ammunition readily available. Their defensive armament would then be stashed at the entrance of the church whenever they would attend church services.

Dr. Cooper remained at Middle Springs for three decades plus. He was a scholar of considerable merit. He had served later on for a brief time in the Revolutionary Army. His interests were of wider influence than the local scene, for he had helped to plan for the first General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in 1789, at which he was a voting delegate.

He wrote a tract entitled “The Signs of the Times” as well as written messages delivered to the American troops of the Revolutionary Army. He went to be with the Lord on April 5, 1805.

Words to live by:  If  you remember that the Scots-Irish Presbyterians initially settled in Cumberland County of Pennsylvania, and then after about thirty years began to migrate west and south, we will have a real appreciation for the Rev. Robert Cooper. He no doubt influenced the evangelistic and revival traditions of the Scots-Irish Presbyterians in America.  With the danger of Indian attacks ever present as they walked to and from church, or upon their homes while they were away at church, it took real courage to be a Reformed Christian in those days. Increasingly we have our own challenges to faith and life today. Then as now, a firm resolve based upon God’s sure care for each of His children, is necessary in standing for faith and righteousness.

It was on this day, November 20th, in 1925, that students from across the nation gathered in Grand Rapids for the first annual conference sponsored by the new campus ministry known as the League of Evangelical Students. Seeking to establish an evangelical campus ministry, invitations went out in January of 1925 to a select number of seminaries. Six schools sent delegates to a meeting in April and a constitution was drawn up. Then, wasting no time, the November conference was planned and carried off to great success.

Established under the leadership of Dr. J. Gresham Machen and other prominent evangelical and Reformed scholars, the League began with high promise, but in sixteen short years, it had run its course and disappeared off the stage of campus ministry. Yet the League, despite a short term of ministry, can be said to have accomplished much. A fore-runner of InterVarsity and Reformed University Ministries, the League of Evangelical Students played a significant role in breaking up the fallow ground of campus ministry. 

To understand more about the League and its work, we can do no better than to read the following reports from three of the conference leaders:

The Grand Rapids Conference, by W.A.H. Zoerner

The League of Evangelical Students was given the great impetus, which promises to make it a very real factor in the lives of American students, at its First Annual Conference held in Grand Rapids, Michigan, November 20-24, 1925. At this conference nineteen schools were represented, eleven theological seminaries and eight Bible schools, and these represented student bodies from Texas to Canada and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Advocates of Christian Unity can take comfort in the fact that these schools represented at least eight of the prominent protestant denominations. One of the outstanding facts of the Conference was the splendid spirit of harmony and Christian unity manifested. The true joy of Christian fellowship was an admitted blessing to every delegate.

The Conference was the guest of Calvin Theological Seminary whose generous hospitality and helpful cooperation added greatly to its successful issue.

Preparations for the Conference were made by the Conference Committee appointed at Pittsburgh in April 1925. The chairman was John L. Schaver (Calvin Seminary) and the secretary of the committee Walter Laetsch (Northern Baptist Seminary). Too much credit cannot be given to these men for the Conference preparations, especially Mr. Schaver who gave a great deal of time and energy in handling the details. Mr. Schaver was elected chairman of the Conference and Mr. Laetsch secretary.

The importance of the League in the estimation of prominent conservative Christian leaders is evidenced by the presence at the Conference of such a representative group as the following list discloses. These men came as delegates, or upon invitation, to lend their judgment and to give addresses. Their presence was a proof of the need and place of an evangelical witness among students today. Dr. J. Gresham Machen, Princeton Seminary, Presbyterian U.S.A., spoke on the theme, “The Church’s Historic Fight against Modernism from Within.” Dr. Leander S. Keyser, Hamma Divinity School, Lutheran, gave two addresses on “Christianity and Liberalism,” and “The Origin of Man and Woman.” Rev. Harold Paul Sloan, Haddonfield, N.J., spoke on “What Modernism denies.” Dr. J.E. Kuizenga, Western Theological Seminary, Holland, Mich., Reformed A., spoke on the theme, “The Supernaturalness of Christianity.” Rev. Joseph A. Schofield, Hobart, N.Y., gave a history of the movement. To these may be added the addresses of Dr. Melvin G. Kyle, Xenia Seminary, United Presbyterian, and Prof. S. Volbeda, Calvin Seminary, Christian Reformed, which are reported in other parts of this paper.

The Conference had also as visitors, Philip Mauro, Framingham, Mass., Prof. A.B. Winchester, Evangelical Theological College, Dallas, Tex., and J.E. Krebs, McCormick Seminary, Chicago, Ill.

The keynote of the Conference was unswerving loyalty to the Bible as the only authoritative rule of faith and practice.

The League’s Program, by Ned B. Stonehouse

“Ye shall be my witnesses.” These words are fulfilled by the witness of the individual Christian to his Lord and personal Saviour and by the great corporate witness of the Christian Church to Christ, its Head. Besides the perennial necessity of these forms of witness bearing, in times of doubt and unbelief and attach upon the Holy Scriptures, it becomes the right and obligation of Christians to band themselves together for the purpose of a united testimony to their common Faith.

The League of Evangelical Students is a witness-bearing organization. It is a movement among Christian students to bear witness to the Christian Religion in its Biblical, supernatural, historical interpretation. Such a witness necessarily includes a defense against the widespread attacks of present-day radicalism. That there is the need of a testimony before the world that there are thousands of students in institutions of higher learning who accept fully the fundamentals of the Christian Faith no one will deny.

One of the greatest fields of opportunity for the League is to present the claims of the true gospel ministry to college men. In too many educational institutions there is an idea that the purpose of the Christian ministry is simply the general uplift and improvement of mankind. This is important, but secondary. Over against this view, the League hopes to present the distinct calling of the Christian ministry to openly set forth Christ and Him crucified, the Saviour from sin and death through the atonement wrought by His shed blood.

The conference at Grand Rapids discussed and recommended the following as effectual means of carrying out the League’s purposes:
1. Promotion of the formation of chapters of evangelical students in seminaries, Bible schools, colleges, and universities.
2. Holding of conferences for inspiration, fellowship and the discussion of common problems; annually of the whole League and sectional conferences more frequently.
3. Sending of deputations to present the evangelical point of view and the claims of the gospel ministry.
4. Establishment of a bureau of evangelical leaders who will be available for addresses, especially at colleges.
5. Preparation of suggested reading for students with religious problems.
6. The publication of an official organ. [This was The Evangelical Student]
7. Issue of literature on the factual bases of the gospel.

“Why the League?,” by A.A. MacRae

THE greatest need of the world today and of every individual in the world is the religion of Jesus Christ. More important than any social improvement, any economic advancement, any political or moral reform, is the extension of the kingdom of God, through the proclamation of the pure Gospel of Jesus Christ. Never did the world need this more than at the present time. Material conditions were never better, political and social advancements never greater, yet the world is not satisfied. Unrest and discontent abound. The only true satisfaction lies in the religion of Jesus Christ. The most real way to obey the second great commandment, “Thou shalt love they neighbor as thyself,” is through obeying the first commandment, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength.”

Strange as it might seem, in this time of all times when Christians should present a united front before the world, and proclaim their God-given Gospel with power and conviction, foes to that Gospel have arisen within the very confines of the Christian Church itself, and many are seeking to dilute it until it loses all that gives it its distinctive power. No wonder scoffers outside the church are saying that the church is dead, when men inside the church are denying or explaining away the foundation stones of the church’s gospel.

The League of Evangelical Students is a student movement, originated by students, to declare beforethe world that there are in our educational institutions large bodies of students who believe thoroughly in the evangelical Gospel in all its richness. Radicalism and skepticism is noisy. It quickly makes its presence felt. It spreads rapidly, like the leaven described in Holy Scripture. Reading the accounts of student life in many current publications might lead one to believe that most seekers after learning had gone over to the ranks of Modernism and Infidelity. Attending some student conferences might lead one to a similar conclusion. It behooves the great body of students who accept the “Faith of our Fathers” to band together to witness to their conviction, and to record their opposition to the stealthy progress of religious unbelief.

The enemies of evangelical Christianity claim to represent intellectualism and scholarship. But truth is one, and the truths discovered by human research cannot reasonably contradict the truths revealed by the Maker of the Universe. The highest scholarship cannot discover any facts which contradict the plain teachings of the Bible. As Dr. Keyser declared at the Grand Rapids Conference: “I maintain that the finest shcolarship in the owrld, under the proper conditions, will lead just to the top of Mt. Calvary.” In the face of the widespread assertions that modern scholarship has rendered conservative Christianity untenable, the members of the League are witnessing to their conviction that true education is possible only when the facts revealed in God’s word are recognized as authoritative.

It is with this spirit that the League has been organized. It desires to include within its membership all who wish to declare with it their adherence to Biblical, supernatural Christianity. The occasion for its formation is plainly stated in the preamble to its constitution. Section I of Article III gives the qualifications for membership:

Qualifications for membership in the League shall be faith in the Bible as the infallible Word of God, and acceptance of the fundamental truths of the Christian Religion, such as: the Trinity, the Virgin Birth of Christ, His Divine and Human Nature, His Substitutionary Atonement, His Resurrection from the Dead, and His Coming Again.

This statement was purposely made very brief and simple, as the League had no intention of promulgating a new creed. It takes its stand upon historic Christianity, the common heritage of all the Evangelical Churches. It is not a movement toward church unity, nor has it a desire in any way to minimize the distinctive doctrines of the various denominations. But it is a movement of studnets who believe in supernaturalistic Christianity, from all the denominations, joining together for the specific purposes outlined in the Constitution of the League. This is very clearly stated in the next section of the Constitution (Art III, Sec. 2):

The above summary is not intended to be regarded as a complete statement, nor as an authoritative definition of the limits of Christian fellowship, but simply as an indication of the class of persons whom the League welcomes as members.

Mutually exclusive conceptions of the nature of the Christian Religion are current today. Every student who calls himself a Christian can easily determine which of these conceptions he holds. The League is a movement of those who hold one of these conceptions–that which regards the Christian Religion as a supernaturally revealed body of facts, showing how man can receive eternal life, through the great act of God who sent His only-begotten Son to die on Calvary’s cross for the sins of the world.

The above articles were transcribed from The Evangelical Student (Princeton, NJ), Volume I, No. 1 (April 1926), pages 3-4.

Two Heroes of Gettysburg Attend a Presbyterian Church
by Rev. David T. Myers

The High Water Mark of the Civil War, the Battle of Gettysburg, had been fought that July of 1863. Attending just four months later in the same town of Pennsylvania, was President Abraham Lincoln for the dedication of the new National Cemetery in that town. The president wasn’t the main speaker that day of dedication.  But he  delivered a short pithy message which he thought was a failure, due to its brevity, but which turned into an immortal address which the world will long remember.

One of the residents of Gettysburg Lincoln wanted to meet, after the presentation, was local and later national hero John L. Burns. The latter was the only civilian who grabbed his old War of 1812 flintlock, and exchanging it for a more modern weapon from a wounded Union soldier, joined in the fighting of the Confederate army on July 1, 1863.  His fame immediately after that brief stint in battle, at which he was wounded three times, caused his name to be on every lip, including that of President Lincoln.

It was on November 19, 1863  that the President of the United States met John Burns at the home of attorney David Wills. The latter had been responsible more than any one else for setting aside the plots of ground which later on became the National Cemetery of Gettysburg. Wills was also a ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church of Gettysburg on Baltimore Street. Together, John Burns and Abraham Lincoln, along with David Wills,  walked south down Baltimore Street to the building of the Presbyterian Church to attend a patriotic service held there that evening.  It was reported that the seventy-one year old Burns slept through much of the service, but Abraham Lincoln was able to be present for most of the service, before duties called him back to Washington, D.C.

A century later in 1962, the church building was replaced with another building, and all the furnishings with it, with the exception of “the Lincoln – Burns Pew” which can still be seen in the new church at the same location.

Words to live by:  There are “heroes” in church history who have been mentioned in great advances of the Lord’s kingdom and church. In point of reference, this very  historical devotional  is all about Christian, and more specifically Christian Presbyterians who have been used of the Holy Spirit to advance the Kingdom of Christ in various periods of time and places. It is as we acknowledge these men and women of the Presbyterian faith that we are more fully appreciate the progress of the church in general, and our local church in particular. So, as you look at your church of your choice, who among them can be found who have in the past or present been instrumental in advancing the cause and kingdom of Christ? After you identify them, why not go up to them and thank the Lord for their spiritual gifts which have been used for God’s glory and His cause?  It will both praise the Lord and encourage their  hearts to know that someone has remembered them for all their hard work.

Saving the Best to the Last
by Rev. David T. Myers

This writer was simply transferring his ordination from the Ascension Presbytery to a central Pennsylvania presbytery, having been called to a congregation within the bounds of Susquehanna Valley Presbytery in 1990.  Being examined on the basic distinctives of the Reformed Faith was  expected and welcomed.  What was not expected, especially in the field of theology, was being examined by Dr. Hudson T. Armerding, the former president of Wheaton College.  Just a year before on November 18, 1989, he had been ordained by  this Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church in America.  And while it is not usual for a person to be ordained one year, and then placed on the committee of examinations the following year, this was an exception because of the spiritual gifts and special ministries of this godly man already in the kingdom of God.

Since this writer’s father was graduated from Wheaton College in the mid twenties of last century, I  have had several conversations with this man of God.  He told me that when he was the president of Wheaton College, there was a rule instituted by him that every new faculty member had to read the Systematic Theology of Dr. J. Oliver Buswell, a former Wheaton College president himself. This Reformed treatment of theology by this Presbyterian author was that important to the future teachers of the College in the mind of Dr. Armerding.

As a resident of the Quarryville Retirement Home, and later officer of it, Dr. Armerding was faithful to attend many quarterly meetings of the central Pennsylvania Presbytery, though as a retired minister, he wasn’t required to attend.  From this author’s standpoint, it was a joy to know him and talk about the work of the Lord.  He is now a member of the heavenly general assembly.

Words to live by:  The heart of godly leadership was the theme of at least two of his books which Dr. Armerding wrote for the watching world.  As a former Navy officer and college president, he observed the importance of that type of leadership in both the nation and the church.  Wherever God has placed you, especially if you have oversight over the hearts and minds of others, study the traits of godly leadership.  Those who are under such godly leadership, especially in our local churches, pray and obey  in the Lord such leadership,    for one day they will have to give an account to the Lord God about your soul.  They desire to do this with joy, and not with grief, for that will be unprofitable for you.