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February 14: Rev. James Scrimgeour

14 February, 2013 in February 2013 by Wayne Sparkman | No comments

James Scrimgeour was born in the year 1757 in the vicinity of Edinburgh, Scotland. His mother, a member of the Secession Church, was known for her remarkable intelligence and piety, and raised young James in a godly home. Graduating from the University of Edinburgh in 1772, James prepared for the ministry under the tutelage of the renowned John Brown of Haddington, and Rev. Brown came to have a high regard for Scrimgeour’s abilities and gifting for ministry. In 1782 he was licensed by the Associate Presbytery of Edinburgh.

Rev. Scrimgeour supplied pulpits in various parts of Scotland for several years and then was settled as pastor of the Associate congregation of North Berwick, in 1784. Here he remained until mental and physical exhaustion overtook him, removing him from the pulpit in 1794.

In 1802, Dr. John M. Mason visited Great Britain, with the goal of finding ministers who would immigrate to the United States. Rev. Scrimgeour, having largely recovered his health, was among those who consented to the proposal, and upon reaching America he was installed as the pastor of the Scottish Church, in Newburgh, New York. Here he labored from 1802 until 1812. He then answered a call to serve the neighboring church in Little Britain, NY, and remained in that post until declining health forced his retirement. He lived but a few months more, and died on February 14, 1825.

Sprague’s Annals of the Presbyterian Pulpit provides some great anecdotes about various ministers. One such story regarding Rev. Scrimgeour says a good deal about his worth as a preacher:

“Those who knew him in the earlier years of his ministry have told me that he was then one of the most popular preachers in the denomination to which he belonged,–the Burgher Seceders; and, from what I know of the taste of Scottish Christians, as well as from my own recollection of his manner in the pulpit, I can easily credit the statement, and various reasons might be assigned if it were worth while to dwell upon the point, why his ministrations were not so generally acceptable in this country as in his native land. Not to mention others, his strong Scottish accent, if not positively distasteful, would not be particularly pleasing to most Americans;…His own people, however, were strongly attached to him, and, in other congregations, containing a large Scottish element, as in that of his old friend Dr. Mason, of New York, in Newburgh, and elsewhere, his appearance in the pulpit always gave pleasure to his audience. When he visited these places, he very well knew that he would be required to preach, and he always went from home with an ample equipment–that is, with from fifty to a hundred sermons in his portmanteau. On one occasion an excellent lady of my acquaintance travelled some fifteen miles to hear Dr. J. M. Mason, who was expected to preach in one of the Associate Reformed congregations, back from Newburgh.  When she reached the church, to her great disappointment, she saw Mr. Scrimgeour ascend the pulpit. Her first impulse was to quit the place and return home, but the ‘sober second thought’ of the Christian kept her in her seat. You may well suppose that she was not in the most favorable mood for appreciating the preacher, (whom she had often heard) yet she afterwards declared that she went away quite captivated with the sermon, and fully persuaded that even Dr. Mason himself (whom she also knew) could not have better recompensed her for her long journey.”

Words to Live By:
To take a few words from a sermon by Moses Hoge,
“Do not expect too much from your Ministers.–Remember that they are men not angels. And were they even angels, they could do nothing for you without a diligent co-operation on your part. If the God of heaven has appointed Ministers to preach the gospel to you, will you not hear it and obey it, that you may not die but live for ever? Waste not the precious time given you for a much better purpose, in devising vain excuses. The time is not far off when you will be stripped of them all. And, surely, there cannot be a greater infatuation than to waste in this way your day of grace–the only season alloted for your repentance and amendment of life–the only season alloted for your preparation for an endless eternity.”

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August 27: Adoption of the Westminster Confession (1647)

27 August, 2012 in August 2012 by davidtmyers | 1 comment

This Day in Presbyterian History:

Westminster Confession Approved by Church of Scotland

You may ask upon reading the title of this contribution, why are we thinking about adoption of the Westminster Confession of Faith, when the whole This Day in Presbyterian History blog deals with Presbyterian history in the United States?  And that is a fair question.  But it is quickly answered by two considerations. First, this Reformed standard—The Westminster Confession of Faith—was, with few changes, the subordinate standard of all the Presbyterian denominations in the United States.  And second, the Scots-Irish immigrants who came over to this country in its earliest days held strongly to this Reformed creedal statement.

The Westminster Confession of Faith was formulated by the Westminster Assembly of divines (i.e, pastors and theologians) in the mid-seventeenth century, meeting at Westminster Abby in London, England.  To the one hundred and twenty divines, primarily from the Church of England, were added nine Scottish divines from the Church of Scotland.  While the latter were seated as non-voting members of that Assembly, still their presence was felt in very effective ways during the six-year study that produced this confessional standard.

When it was adopted by the Parliament in England, it then went to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, where it was adopted without amendment on August 29, 1647.  It then became the summary of the teachings of the Old and New Testaments which was adopted by both the teaching and ruling elders, as well as the diaconate in each local church, in every Presbyterian and Reformed church deriving from that tradition. Small changes have been made by conservative Presbyterian bodies in our United States which do not affect the overall doctrinal contents of the Confession. The majority of those changes were made in 1789. You can ask your pastor for more information about those changes.

The historic importance of this document is one reason why we have daily reference to it in this devotional guide, as we seek to make our friends more knowledgeable of its magnificent statements.

Words to live by: Most of the Presbyterian denominations do not require their lay members to take vows which speak of their adoption of these historical creedal standards in order to join the church.  Yet a careful study of, and acceptance of this Confession of Westminster will give you a solid foundation for understanding the doctrine and life of the Word of God.  We urge you to do so, perhaps asking for a class in your church on it, or just studying it yourself for your personal and family benefit.

Through the Scriptures:  1 Chronicles 20 – 23

Through the Standards:  Lawful and Unlawful Subjects of Prayer, according to the Confession

WCF 21:4
“Prayer is to be made for things lawful; and for all sorts of men living, or that shall live hereafter: but not for the dead, nor for those of whom it may be known that they have sinned the sin unto death.”

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July 16: Rev. George Gillespie

16 July, 2012 in July 2012 by davidtmyers | 3 comments

This Day in Presbyterian History:  

Little of the Power and Life of Religion

In New Castle, Delaware, Pastor George Gillespie took an opportunity to write to a pastor friend in Scotland, for “the interest of the Glorious Christ.”  Written on July 16, 1723, Pastor Gillespie made reference to two hundred Scotch-Irish Presbyterian families who had recently left the old country to move to Pennsylvania.

In the letter, George Gillespie rejoiced that “the glorious Christ has great designs in America” with the arrival of these Reformed families from Ireland.  A many congregations had been erected and were continuing to be organized.  However, with the increase of both people and churches, there was to his disappointment “little of the power and life of religion” with them.  He prays in acknowledging that fact that “the Lord disappoint his fears” for the state of Christianity in the new shores.

The Scottish minister then gave the following statistics, that out of thirty ministers and licentiates in their synod, some six of the number had been “grossly scandalous.”  Discipline had taken place upon these six ministers, with the most severe censure that of suspension for four Sabbaths from the pulpit and means of grace.  It was interesting that one of the sins charged against one Robert Laing was that he had taken a bath on the Lord’s day.  George Gillespie noted that the latter minister “is the first from Scotland to be grossly scandalous in our parts.”

Pastor Gillespie ended  his letter to his friend with some prayer requests that the latter be a great prayer warrior for “the infant church of Christ in America, and that the Lord would purify the sons of Levi.”  He also prayed that “the faithful God  hasten the time when He would fulfil His promise in Isaiah 59:19 that ‘they will fear His name from the West.'”

Words to Live By: In our world, and even church world now, the charges of sin, like taking a bath on the Lord’s day, are not considered a scandal which needs discipline.  Indeed, it would more so be considered a necessity, or perhaps one of mercy to all those who might find themselves around him on that day!  But nevertheless, we see one of the marks of the true  church, namely, that of discipline being carried out in the Lord’s name.  That is ever a sign of a pure church.  Pray much for those elders who must administer discipline as well as those members under church discipline today, that they might be restored to the fellowship of the saints by repentance and renewal.

Through the Scriptures: Isaiah 28 – 30

Through the Standards: Proof texts of the fourth commandment:

Deuteronomy 5:12 – 15
“Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the LORD your God has commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor the alien within your gates, so that your manservant and maidservant may rest, as you do.  Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the LORD your God brought you out of there with a mighty arm and an outstretched arm.  Therefore the LORD your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.” (NIV)

Genesis 2:2, 3
“By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all  his work.  And God blessed the seventh day and made it  holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.” (NIV)

Isaiah 58:13, 14
“If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you all the Sabbath a delight and the LORD’s holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find your joy in the LORD, and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.  The mouth of the LORD has spoken.” (ESV);

Revelation 1:10
“On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit . . .” (NIV)

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June 13 : The Reformed Presbytery (1782)

13 June, 2012 in June 2012 by davidtmyers | No comments

This Day in Presbyterian History:  

A Union of Scottish Presbyterians

A noted Reformed Presbyterian theologian was once asked in the early eighteen hundreds in this country to identify his branch of the Presbyterian Church.  He replied that he belonged to no branch of Presbyterians, only to the root of Presbyterianism.  This answer revealed the deep view of history which Covenanter Presbyterians have of their church.

Any article on Scottish Presbyterians must really have an understanding first of the religious  situation  in  Scotland,   to say nothing   of the   Church of Scotland coming out of Romanism in the Protestant Reformation under reformer John Knox.  We don’t have room enough to enter into that topic on this site, but a good perusal or even a scan of any of the books which deal with that history will bring you up to speed on this.   Suffice to say that the American colonies were the happy recipients of countless Scot-Irish immigrants from Scotland through Ireland to this land.  They brought with them their distinctives which were (1)  a perpetual obligation to the Scottish covenants which their spiritual forefathers had signed, many with their blood, (2)  the sole headship of Christ over all, and last, (3) the concept of Christian civil government, where the new nation would be recognized as a Christian nation under King Jesus.

In their Scottish history, there had been many breakaways from the Church of Scotland for alleged errors in doctrine and practice.  One was called the Associate Presbytery, while another breakaway was called the Reformed Presbytery.

The latter was organized in the American colonies on March 9, 1774 as the first Reformed Presbyterian Presbytery of Pennsylvania.  In fact, there is a blue historical sign by the state of Pennsylvania which recognizes this religious event beside one of the roads in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.  It was composed of three ministers: John Cuthbertson, William Lind, and Alexander Dobbins.

The first, John Cuthbertson,  was a missionary who traveled all throughout Pennsylvania, visiting the scattered societies, as they were known, ministering to them by the Word and Sacrament.  Often, their place of worship was under the sky and known as a Tent, such as the Junkin Tent in New Kingston, Pennsylvania.  Rev.  William Lind ministered in Paxton, outside of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in a church.  And  the third minister from Ireland, Rev, Alexander Dobbins, was ministering outside of Gettysburg, Pa.  Thousands eat today as the Dobbins House Restaurant near the 1863 Gettsyburg Battlefield, not realizing that Rev. Dobbins had a pivotal part in the establishment of Presbyterianism in Pennsylvania.

That union of three ministers in the Reformed Presbytery lasted about eight years as another union took place in Pequea, Pennsylvania, on June 13, 1782 between  the Associate Presbytery and the Reformed Presbytery.  Somehow the Scottish distinctions between the two presbyteries were not as relevant in this new land.  This produced the Associate Reformed Presbytery.

Words to Live By:  Their current membership in the various Scottish Presbyterian Covenanter churches might be small in comparison with other Presbyterian churches, but in their minds and hearts, they are the root of Presbyterianism, never just another branch.  It is good to have a clear sense of history of your church.  In fact, this yearly historical devotional has that as one of its purposes.  This contributor desires that you, the reader,  know from where you have come in the past, so you won’t make the mistakes of the past, but labor effectively in the presence and future for King Jesus.

Through the Scriptures: Ecclesiastes 10 – 12

Through the Standards: The moral law after the fall into sin

W.C.F. 19:2

“This law, after his fall, continued to be a perfect rule of righteousness; and, as such, was delivered by God upon Mount Sinai, in ten commandments, and written in two tables: the first four commandments containing our duty towards God; and the other six, our duty to man.”

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