Reformed Churchmen

We are Confessional Calvinists and a Prayer Book Church-people. In 2012, we remembered the 350th anniversary of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer; also, we remembered the 450th anniversary of John Jewel's sober, scholarly, and Reformed "An Apology of the Church of England." In 2013, we remembered the publication of the "Heidelberg Catechism" and the influence of Reformed theologians in England, including Heinrich Bullinger's Decades. For 2014: Tyndale's NT translation. For 2015, John Roger, Rowland Taylor and Bishop John Hooper's martyrdom, burned at the stakes. Books of the month. December 2014: Alan Jacob's "Book of Common Prayer" at: http://www.amazon.com/Book-Common-Prayer-Biography-Religious/dp/0691154813/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417814005&sr=8-1&keywords=jacobs+book+of+common+prayer. January 2015: A.F. Pollard's "Thomas Cranmer and the English Reformation: 1489-1556" at: http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Cranmer-English-Reformation-1489-1556/dp/1592448658/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1420055574&sr=8-1&keywords=A.F.+Pollard+Cranmer. February 2015: Jaspar Ridley's "Thomas Cranmer" at: http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Cranmer-Jasper-Ridley/dp/0198212879/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1422892154&sr=8-1&keywords=jasper+ridley+cranmer&pebp=1422892151110&peasin=198212879

Thursday, February 5, 2015

5 February 1723 A.D. John Witherspoon Born—Presbyterian Clergyman, President of Princeton College, & Signer of Declaration of Independence


5 February 1723 A.D.  John Witherspoon Born—Presbyterian Clergyman, President of Princeton College, & Signer of Declaration of Independence


John Witherspoon (1723 to 1794)

Presbyterian

Educator to America

John Witherspoon was born at Yester, Scotland. He matriculated to the University of Scotland at age 13, received his M.A. in 1739, and 1743 graduated in divinity. A leader in the Popular Party of the Scottish church, he advocated purity of doctrine, the rights of the local church to choose their own pastors, and he opposed the liberalizing tendencies of the Moderates. He emigrated to America in 1768 to become president of the College of New Jersey (later, Princeton). Though the school suffered great losses during the Revolution, Witherspoon revitalized it, adding new courses with new teachers, all the while strengthening the financial strucure of the institution. Politically, he arrived as a delegate to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia just in time to support the Declaration of Independence, the only clergyman to sign it.

No comments: