12
August 1812 A.D. Archibald Alexander—Called to be 1st
Professor of Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary
Graves,
Dan. “Archibald Alexander Assumed
Princeton Post.” Christianity.com. June 2007. http://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1801-1900/archibald-alexander-assumed-princeton-post-11630367.html. Accessed 16 May 2014.
Who is he that speaks? It is the voice of
'Immanuel, God with us.' What man or angel could invite a guilty world to come
to him. Neither Moses nor Elijah, nor Paul, nor John, presumed to call men to
look to them for rest. Only He in whom 'dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead
bodily,' could give rest to every troubled soul."
The preacher was Alexander Archibald, a man who had
memorized the catechism at seven, and begun his Latin studies even earlier. As
a youth he was an expert swimmer and horseman. At seventeen he made a public
profession of faith in Christ. He preached his first sermon shortly afterward,
without any preparation, because he was asked to fill in at the last moment. He
spoke so clearly and confidently that the Presbyterian Church licensed him to
preach when he was just nineteen. The move was justified: Alexander soon led a
revival in North Carolina.
After 1812, the lecture halls of Princeton were
also stirred by his passion for Christ. For Archibald had urged the creation of
a seminary; and on this day, August 12,
1812, the denomination chose him to be the first Professor at the
Theological Seminary of Princeton. He not only organized all the courses but
taught them all himself! He stamped the seminary with deep scholarship and
Christian fervor.
Princeton began as The College of New Jersey in
1746 as a result of the Great Awakening. Like many of the early colleges and
universities of the United States, it was established mostly to teach
ministers. Several of its key supporters were graduates of the "Log
College" run by fiery revivalist Gilbert Tennent.
For centuries, a single individual could master in
a lifetime all that was taught at university. But knowledge increased so much
after the scientific revolution that by the nineteenth century no one man could
learn all there was to know. Educational leaders found it necessary to create
separate medical schools, law schools and seminaries. Seminaries were also
needed to provide pastors for the growing population of the western United
States. Princeton Theological Seminary was opened in response to these developments.
Its purpose was "to unite in those who shall
sustain the ministerial office, religion and literature; that piety of
the heart, which is the fruit only of the renewing and sanctifying grace of
God, with solid learning; believing that religion without learning, or learning
without religion, in the ministers of the gospel, must ultimately prove
injurious to the church."
Archibald combined the learning and faith that the
school hoped to impart to its students. For example, because zealots claimed
that the Bible forbids drinking, he deliberately sipped a little wine in
company just to show that the Bible says nothing of the kind.
His appeals were not just intellectual but to the
heart, as these words from his sermon show: "Do not for a moment suppose
that you must make yourself better, or prepare your heart for a worthy
reception of Christ, but come at once--come as you are. He saves none because
their sins are comparatively few and unnoticed by their fellow-men; he rejects
none because their sins are many and great....The promise is that he will give
you rest. And this includes pardon and acceptance with God. It includes a
deliverance from the condemnation and the tyranny of sin, from fear and
remorse, from all spiritual enemies and all vain self-righteous hopes. It is a
cordial for an accusing conscience, it is consolation for the oppressed, it is
peace for the troubled spirit, it is a balm for every evil that can afflict us
in our passage through life, and it is the earnest and pledge of the glorious,
pure, eternal rest of heaven."
Bibliography:
1. Alexander, Archibald. Thoughts on
Religious Experience. Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Publication, 1841.
2. "Alexander, Archibald."
Dictionary of American Biography. New York : Scribner, 1958-1964.
3. Alexander , James W. Life of
Archibald Alexander (New York, Scribner, 1856).
4. "Christ's Gracious
Invitation." The sermon passages are quoted from this sermon from a text
at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which may be used freely by
individuals for research, teaching and personal use as long as this statement
of availability is included.
5. Loetscher, Lefferts Augustine.
Facing the Enlightenment and Pietism : Archibald Alexander and the founding of
Princeton Theological Seminary. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1983.
6. Mills, W. Jay. Glimpses of
Colonial Society and the Life at Princeton College 1766-1773. Philadelphia:
Lippincott, 1903.
7. Wallace, P. J. "Alexander,
Archibald." Biographical Dictionary of Evangelicals. Timothy Larsen,
editor. Downers-Grove, Illinois: Intevarsity Press, 2003.
8. Various encyclopedia and internet
articles.
Last update June, 2007
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