Reformed Christian Studies

Posted at Presbyterians of the Past: The BELIEVER going to GOD as His EXCEEDING JOY A SERMON. Psalm 43:4 Then will I go to the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy. It is of great moment to attend to the proper mixture of reverence and love which ought to possess our hearts in the worship of the living God. If they arise from proper principles, they will not destroy or weaken, but strengthen one another. A believer can never lie too low in the dust before the most holy God; he can never be too sensible either of his distance as a creature, or his guilt and unworthiness as a sinner; but, at the same time, he can never be too deeply penetrated with a sense of divine love, or have too strong and ardent desires for communion and fellowship with God. The truth is, the lower we are in our own sight, it does but the more illustrate and magnify all the grace that is shown to us in the gospel; and the more joyfully we contemplate the fullness of our portion in an infinite God, it will but th

Posted at This Day in Presbyterian History : Honest John Hart — February ?, 1713 by Rev. David T. Myers There is much which we don’t know about Honest John Hart, as he was known by all. For example, no one seems to know the date of his birth. We know that it was the second month of the year, but the exact day is unknown. So for the purposes of this web magazine, we have chosen this day. Some don’t even know the year of his birth, though we have placed down the generally accepted year of 1713. And as far as the place of his birth, that too is not known. Some say John Hart was born in Connecticut, and others say New Jersey. But what this humble man accomplished for his new country and especially for the Lord God is well known. His chief accomplishment was that John Hart was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, representing the State of New Jersey. And like his fellow delegate John Witherspoon, who signed the Declaration, John Hart was also a Presbyte

Posted at Leben: "Call this war by whatever name you may, only call it not an American Rebellion: it is nothing more or less than a Scotch-Irish Presbyterian Rebellion.”  “Who’s that riding in on horse-back? Parson Caldwell, boys; Hooray! Red-coats call him “Fighting Chaplain,” How they hate him! Well they may!” The American War for Independence was on the edge of disaster entering 1780. “Not worth a Continental” had entered the lexicon due to the staggering devaluation of the American currency. More than six hundred had deserted Washington’s army in Morristown, New Jersey, helped along by a more severe winter than that suffered at Valley Forge. Pockets of mutiny had sprung up throughout the winter and into the spring. Then, in May, 1780, Charleston, South Carolina, fell to British General Charles Cornwallis. Emboldened by the General’s success, and intelligence that suggested the colonial militia would not turn out, Loyalists urged the British commanders to mount

Colonial New England From Wives of the Signers - Posted at Colonial Hall.com : Elizabeth Montgomery Witherspoon (1721-1789) Wife of John Witherspoon Rev. John Witherspoon, D.D., * who became President of Princeton College and a signer of the Declaration of Independence, was married to Elizabeth Montgomery in Scotland, shortly after completing his education in Edinburgh University, in 1743. His biographers say of her: "She was a Scotch woman of little education, but whose piety, benevolence, and graciousness made her beloved by all who knew her. Dr. Witherspoon (sometimes spelled Wotherspoon) was the son of a minister descended from John Knox, the great Covenanter, and as a young man, had established a wide reputation for learning and other sterling qualities. He was offered the presidency of Princeton in 1766 but declined became of financial embarrassments and the opposition of his wife who did not wish to leave her family and friends and journey into a strange lan

John Knox Witherspoon (Wikipedia) Page One - Posted at Colonial Hall.com : John Witherspoon, a man alike distinguished as a minister of the gospel, and a patriot of the revolution, was born in the parish of Yester, a few miles from Edinburgh, on the 5th of February, 1722. He was lineally descended from John Knox, the Scottish reformer, of whom Mary, queen of Scots, said, "she was more afraid of his prayers, than of an army of ten thousand men."  The father of Mr. Witherspoon was the minister of the parish of Yester. He was a man, eminent for his piety and literature, and for a habit of great accuracy in his writings and discourses. The example of the father contributed, in no small degree, to form in his son that love of taste and simplicity, for which he was deservedly distinguished.  He was sent, at an early age, to the public school at Haddington, where be soon acquired a high reputation for the native soundness of his judgment, his close application to stu

by Ole Erekson, Engraver, c1876, Library of Congress Posted at USHistory.org: Representing New Jersey at the Continental Congress Born : February 5, 1723 Birthplace : Gifford, Scotland Education : Master of Arts, University of Edinburgh; Doctorate of Divinity, University of St. Andrews. (Clergyman, Author, Educator) Work : President of College of New Jersey, 1768-1792; Delegate to the Continental Congress, 1776-1782; Twice elected to State Legislature of New Jersey. Died : November 15, 1794 John Witherspoon brought some impressive credentials and a measure of public acclaim with him when he joined the colonies in 1768, as president of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton). Born in 1723, he received the finest education available to a bright young gentleman of that era. John attended the preparatory school in Haddington Scotland. He proceeded to Edinburgh where he attained a Master of Arts, then to four years of divinity school. At this point he was twenty. In 1743 h

Posted at This Day in Presbyterian History : At last, He Had Arrived You would have thought that he was a king making a royal entrance into his kingdom, so great was the rejoicing among God’s people to his arrival on the shores of the American colonies. And indeed, John Witherspoon was certainly the man whom God has chosen to lead the infant College of New Jersey in its next steps of Christian education. The College had some dark providences associated with its leadership. In the twenty years of its existence, the five leaders who served as its president, had served a few years and then died. In fact, it was this mortality rate which cause Mrs. Elizabeth Witherspoon, John’s wife in Scotland, to want nothing to do with the College. And so there had been four appeals to come over and help them, but all four of them failed to move the Scotchman, but more particularly the Scotch woman to wish to cross over the Atlantic. Finally, with the aid of Benjamin Rush, who at that time