A Model Preacher and a Faithful Pastor
How does one live in the shadow of a man, albeit your father, who was the leading theologian of the day? The answer is simple enough really. You engage in your calling faithfully and fully. Such a man was James Waddell Alexander.
Born near Gordonsville, Virginia, in 1804, the eldest son of Archibald Alexander, James was raised in a household filled with theological giants of the faith. His father was the president of Hampden-Sydney College at that time. But by the time that schooling had begun for James, his father had taken the pulpit of the Third Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1807. Then in 1812, the new seminary called Princeton began in New Jersey, and the Alexander family moved there, as Archibald Alexander became the first professor of that new divinity school.
Young James graduated from the College of New Jersey in 1820. And while he studied theology at Princeton Seminary from 1822–1824, he would not be ordained by the historic Hanover Presbytery until 1827, having first served about three years as a tutor. (This seems to have been a common practice in the 19th-century, where men would first serve as a tutor for several years before seeking ordination.). He began his pastoral ministry as stated supply of the Presbyterian church in Charlotte Court House, Virginia for a year, and was then pastor of that church for another year. The rest of his life and ministry had him variously teaching at both college and seminary in Princeton, interspersed with pastoral ministry in Trenton, New Jersey and New York City Presbyterian churches.
He was involved in some of the biggest seasons of revival and reformation during those middle decades of the eighteen hundreds. The New York City prayer revival took place in his church in 1857, which then spread through the noon prayer meetings among many denominations and around the country. In the midst of his ministry, the Old School / New School division took place in the denomination. Through it all, James Alexander proclaimed Christ to the masses.
One of the highlights of his ministry was his hymn writing and related translation work. Perhaps his most famous translation was that of the familiar words to “O Sacred Head, Now Wounded.” His 1830 translation of the eleventh-century poem by Bernard of Clairvaux is the version most used by our churches today.
In 1859 James returned with his wife to his home state of Virginia to recover from a serious illness. On July 31, 1859, he went to Red Sweet Springs, Virginia, where he succumbed from his illness. Before his death, he made the following comment:
“If the curtain should drop at this moment and I were ushered into the presence of my Maker, what would be my feelings? They would be these. First, I would prostrate myself in the dust in an unutterable sense of my nothingness and guilt. Secondly, I would look up to my Redeemer with an inexpressible assurance of faith and love. There is a passage of Scripture which best expresses my present feeling: “I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.”
Words to Live By: As we contemplate that last comment of James Alexander on his death-bed, who among believers could not echo these same words and thoughts? We have no right from ourselves to gain heaven. It is only through Christ’s love and forgiveness that we have been given the key to heaven’s door. Christ Jesus is the object of our faith, and the only object. Let that be your assurance both here, and hereafter.
So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. (Psalm 90:12, KJV)
