John Witherspoon is most famous for being the only clergyman to sign the Declaration of Independence. The most crucial part of that sentence is the recognition that Witherspoon was, from the age of 20 until his death at the age of 71, a pastor.
When Witherspoon landed on the docks in Philadelphia in 1768 to assume the presidency at Princeton, he had already completed nearly 25 years of ministry in the Church of Scotland. After being licensed by the Presbytery of Haddington in 1743, Witherspoon served two churches: Beith (1745–57) in Ayrshire and Paisley (1757–68) on the outskirts of Glasgow. As a pastor, Witherspoon proved to be an effective preacher, a popular writer, and the best controversialist in the evangelical wing of the Kirk.
Leaving Scotland was a difficult decision for Witherspoon. He initially turned down Princeton’s overtures in 1766, only to acquiesce when his wife changed her mind and the trustees made another run at the Scottish minister in 1768. Today, we think of Princeton as one of America’s first, finest, and most important universities, but in the 1760s it was a small, struggling institution in rural New Jersey. In one of his early lectures at the College of New Jersey (as Princeton was known at the time), Witherspoon reflected on some of the blessings he had left behind in Scotland.
If I may be allowed to say any thing personal, I incline to add, that it is peculiarly agreeable to me. Nothing would give me a higher pleasure, than being instrumental in furnishing the minds and improving the talents of those who may hereafter be the ministers of the everlasting gospel. The hope of it is, indeed, the chief comfort in my present station.
Notwithstanding the many encouraging circumstances that have happened since my arrival here, and the evident smiles of Providence upon the college, yet I confess I have often regretted the want of a pastoral charge. After having been for twenty three years constantly employed in preaching the gospel to a numerous, obedient, and affectionate people, to be employed in a way of life so considerably different, must have created some uneasiness. Just figure to yourselves, one that had been so long accustomed to preach to a crowded audience of from twelve to fifteen hundred souls every day, and all subject to my private oversight and discipline; not have such a thin and negligent assembly, and mostly composed of those think themselves under no obligation to attend, but when they please.
Witherspoon was missing home and missing his life as a pastor. Although Witherspoon pastored a church in Princeton on the side (it was really more of a preaching station for the president of the college), his role had clearly changed. Witherspoon’s main work was, for the first time in his adult life, something other than the care of souls in a local church. The College of New Jersey would be most famous in the decades ahead for raising up a generation of statesmen and politicians for the new country. But in America’s early days, Witherspoon took comfort in the fact that he could train up ministers for the church as well. He remembered what George Whitefield had said to him in Great Britain: “You will be greatly mortified to see the difference between a small country society in America, and a large city congregation in Scotland; but if you be instrumental in sending out ministers of the New Testament, it will be a still more important station, for every gownsman is a legion.”
Witherspoon has sometimes been criticized for being more politically focused than ecclesiastically focused as Princeton’s president. It would be better to say that Witherspoon spent different parts of his American career laboring in different spheres. In the 1770s and early 1780s this meant political engagement for the sake of the United States. In the last ten years of his life, Witherspoon turned his attention more fully to the Presbyterian Church (he was also instrumental in getting the first full English Bible printed in America and in penning a widely used preface to the King James Bible that famously replaced the “Dedication to King James” with “To the Reader.”)
While there is no doubt that Witherspoon turned Princeton into a nursery for the republic, he never lost sight of the institution’s original gospel aims. As Ashbel Green, Witherspoon’s protégé and first biographer, concluded, “During the whole period in which [Witherspoon] was occupied in civil life, he never laid aside his ministerial character, but always appeared in every relation as became an ambassador of God.”
A Committed (and Very Busy) Churchman
Of the many vocational hats Witherspoon wore over the course of his 26 years in America — college president, educator, writer, congressman, patriot, and founding father — the most overlooked is his work as a Presbyterian churchman. From 1769 until his death in 1794, Witherspoon only missed three of the national gatherings for the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (as it would be called), and those three absences (1778, 1780, 1784) were during or immediately following the Revolutionary War. During his quarter century in America, Witherspoon was undoubtedly the most respected, most called upon, and most essential minister in the Presbyterian Church. From a human perspective, it’s hard to imagine how the Presbyterian Church (USA) would have been established, survived, and thrived apart from the exertions of John Witherspoon.
Let’s trace Witherspoon’s involvement in the business of the church by highlighting some of his key contributions as relayed in the minutes of Synod of New York and Philadelphia (the precursor to the General Assembly).
In 1769, Witherspoon was appointed to a committee to determine whether it would be expedient to prepare a plan for the propagation of the gospel among the native tribes. He was also tasked, along with eight others, to dispose of a financial gift made to the College of New Jersey for supporting poor and pious youth in the college.
In 1771, he continued to be involved with establishing a school among the natives. He was also appointed to a committee designed to communicate with Reformed churches in Geneva, in Holland, and in Scotland. Not surprisingly, Witherspoon was often called upon to communicate with the Church of Scotland.
In 1772, he was appointed to a two-man committee to consider a complaint as to whether Philadelphia — ground zero for the conflict between Old School and New School Presbyterians — should have a third Presbyterian church.
The next year Witherspoon was placed on a committee to mediate a dispute between First Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia (Old Side) and Second Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia (New Side) concerning Second’s recent decision to introduce Isaac Watts’ compositions into corporate worship. Many Scottish Presbyterians were nervous about how Watts paraphrased the Psalms, considering his texts bad poetry and too loose a rendering of Scripture. They also questioned some of Watts’ general theological convictions. If this weren’t enough to keep Witherspoon busy, he was also appointed to be treasurer for the Synod.
In 1774, Witherspoon took the rare step (in America) of formally disagreeing with an action of Synod. The Synod had reversed a previous decision regarding pastoral examination, which had the effect of allowing presbyteries the freedom to receive ministers from Europe on their own. Witherspoon, along with six other dissenters, thought the policy was too loose.
In response, the Synod appointed a new committee to prepare a new overture to be substituted in place of the reversed act. This new motion, approved unanimously, reaffirmed the importance of “maintain[ing] orthodoxy in doctrine” and urged all Presbyteries “to be very strict and careful . . . in examining the certificates and testimonials of ministers or probationers who come from foreign churches.” It’s a testimony to Witherspoon’s influence that his opposition prompted the Synod to regroup and make a new statement on such a contested matter.
By 1775, the affairs of the Synod were caught up in the affairs of the colonial crisis. The Synod called upon its congregations “to spend the afternoon of the last Thursday in every month in public solemn prayer to God, during the continuance of our present Troubles.” The Synod also issued a Pastoral Letter to be read from the pulpits on Thursday, June 29, 1775, the day set aside for a public fast.
The letter — written by Witherspoon and included in Volume Three of his “Works” — began by insisting that civil war was likely and that suffering and public calamity may soon be upon them. Witherspoon’s letter then exhorted the church members under their care to do six things: (1) Express attachment to and show respect for your sovereign King George. (2) Be careful to maintain unity throughout the colonies. (3) Take care to be vigilant over your own members. (4) Serve one another, pursue public peace, and avoid civil war. (5) If you are called to fight, conduct the battle with humanity and mercy. (6) Continue in the exercise of prayer and in gathering together for worship.
Not surprisingly, the Synod was poorly attended over the next few years. In 1778, Witherspoon was absent for the first time since his arrival in the colonies. The minutes record that the Synod rebuked ministers and elders for not attending their annual assembly, but with the country at war, only 13 commissioners were listed as present. Almost 60 members were listed as absent, and this did not include seven whole presbyteries that had no representation whatsoever.
In 1781, with Witherspoon present, the Synod issued an important statement on religious liberty: “The Synod do solemnly and publicly declare, that they ever have, and still do renounce and abhor the principle of intolerance, and we do believe, that every peaceable Member of civil society ought to be protected in the full and free exercise of his religion.” Seven years later, these convictions would be enshrined in the Presbyterian constitution by way of revisions to Chapter 23 of the Westminster Confession. Three years after that, the same ideas would be enshrined in the national Constitution under the First Amendment.
In 1782, Witherspoon was appointed to a three-person committee to look into the matter of clergy compensation. The “interest of religion” is in grave danger, the minutes report, “from the many discouragements under which the Ministers of the Gospel labour, from the want of sufficient support and Liberal maintenance from the Congregations they Serve.” Witherspoon was also placed on a three-person committee tasked with preparing an address to the Minister of France congratulating him on the birth of a Dauphin (the title given to eldest son of the French king and heir apparent to the throne).
A National Presbyterian Church for the New Nation
Undoubtedly, the most important years for Witherspoon’s involvement in the church were from 1785 to 1789, the four-year period that saw the formal establishment of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America and the first General Assembly.
The minutes in 1785 report on a surprising development: some of the brethren from the Low Dutch Synod and from the Associate Reformed Synod wanted to talk to the Synod of New York and Philadelphia about the three ecclesiastical bodies combining their efforts and possibly entering into a “kind of union.” The Synod responded favorably to this overture and appointed a committee, with Witherspoon listed first, to meet with representatives of the other denominations.
An even more significant committee was appointed in 1785, also with Witherspoon listed first. The work of this committee was:
to take into consideration, the Constitution of the Church of Scotland, and other Protestant Churches; and agreeably to the general principle of Presbyterian Government, compile a system of general rules for the Government of the Synod, and the several Presbyteries under their inspection, and the People in their communion, and to make report of their proceeding herein at the next meeting of Synod.
The membership of this all-important committee consisted of nine ministers (John Witherspoon, Alexander MacWhorter, John Rodgers, James Sproat, George Duffield, Patrick Allison, John Ewing, Matthew Wilson, and Robert Smith) and three ruling elders (Isaac Snowden, Robert Taggart, and John Pinkerton).
In 1786, we read that representatives from the Dutch Church, the Associate Reformed Church, and the Synod of New York and Philadelphia communicated to each other in detail about the standards for doctrine and discipline in their respective churches. Concerning the latter, the minutes report:
The Synod of New York and Philadelphia adopt, according to the known and established meaning of the Terms, the Westminster confession of Faith as the confession of their faith; save that every candidate for the gospel Ministry is permitted to except against so much of the twenty third Chapter as gives authority to the Civil Magistrate in matters of Religion. The Presbyterian Church in America considers the Church of Christ as a spiritual Society intirely [sic] distinct from the Civil Government; and having a right to regulate their own ecclesiastical policy independently of the interposition of the Magistrate.
The Presbyterians of New York and Philadelphia also stipulated that they received the Directory for Public Worship and the form of church government adopted at the Westminster Assembly, although “we do not believe that God has been pleased to reveal and injoin [sic] every minute circumstance of ecclesiastic government and discipline as not to leave room for orthodox Churches of Christ, in these minutiae, to differ with charity from one another.” The other rules for discipline and trials in their judicatories, they noted, were drawn from Pardovan’s Collections, a series of four books on worship, discipline, and government that formed a kind of Book of Church Order for the Church of Scotland.
The three denominational bodies agreed to watch over ministerial credentials, discourage fugitives from one body to another, and send delegates to a biennial convention, whose powers shall be counsel and advice (not an authoritative judicatory). Witherspoon was named the head of a three-person committee to draw up instructions for future delegates to meet with the committees of the other two denominations.
It was also decided that the Synod of New York and Philadelphia would be reorganized as four regional synods: New York and New Jersey, Philadelphia, Virginia, and the Carolinas. The national Synod established a formula for how many delegates each presbytery could send, and they decided that the highest judicatory would be called the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America.
The year 1787 proved to be pivotal for Americans in Philadelphia, with two constitutions (one national, one ecclesiastical) being hammered out at the same time within two blocks of each other. After several postponements, the Synod finally took under consideration the draft of a Plan of Government and Discipline:
The Synod took into consideration the last paragraph of the twentieth Chapter of the Westminster Confession of Faith; the third paragraph of the twenty third Chapter, and the first paragraph of the thirty first Chapter, and having made some alterations, agreed that the said paragraphs, as now altered, be printed for consideration, together with the Draught of a plan of Government and discipline.
The Synod also approved a committee to revise the Directory for Public Worship.
It should also be mentioned that the Committee of Overtures brought a motion insisting that it was the duty of Christians “to use such means as are in their power to extend the blessings of equal freedom to every part of the human race.” The minutes record that the “full conviction of these truths” was “too well understood to admit debate.” Later the Synod approved (and reaffirmed in subsequent years) a vigorous statement in support of the final abolition of slavery in America.
A year later, on Friday, May 23, 1788, the Synod considered the draft of the Form of Government and Discipline. After debating the matter all day Friday, Saturday morning, and then again on Monday morning, a vote was finally taken, and the matter approved, on Wednesday, May 28:
The Synod, having fully considered the draught of the Form of Government, and Discipline did, on a review of the whole, and hereby do ratify, and adopt the same, as now altered, and amended, as the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church in America and order the same to be considered, and strictly observed, as the Rule of their proceedings, by all the inferior Judicatories belonging to the Body.
Witherspoon was named head of the committee tasked with proposing changes to the Directory for Public Worship. By Thursday afternoon those changes were accepted, approved, and ratified. Also on Thursday, the body took into consideration the Westminster Larger and Shorter Catechisms, making one small amendment to the former by removing “tolerating a false religion” from the sins forbidden in the Second Commandment. The two Catechisms were then approved and ratified.
The Synod ordered that their newly-approved constitution — consisting of the Directory for Public Worship, the Westminster Confession of Faith, the Larger and Shorter Catechisms, and the Form of Government and Discipline — be bound and printed for distribution.
Witherspoon was named a delegate for the upcoming Convention with the Dutch and Associate Reformed, to meet in New York City in October. He was also chosen to give the inaugural sermon at the opening of the first General Assembly, held at the Second Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia.
In 1789, Witherspoon presided over the opening of the first General Assembly and preached a sermon from 1 Corinthians 3:7 (“So neither who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth”). John Rodgers, a well-known pastor from New York City, was chosen as the first moderator.
Conclusion
Witherspoon continued to attend the General Assembly and serve in various ways until his death in 1794, but no doubt the most important ecclesiastical work of his life took place in the second half of the 1780s. In addition to his tireless committee work, John Witherspoon wrote the eight Preliminary Principles that are included, with only slight modification from their 1788 version, in the PCA’s Book of Church Order. It is also likely that he wrote most of the Form of Government and Discipline, which would make sense considering it was explicitly modeled on the practices of the Church of Scotland.
It is difficult to exaggerate just how revered Witherspoon was among his fellow Presbyterians in America. He was appointed to almost every important committee, drew up many of the church’s foundational documents, and was given the honor of preaching the opening sermon in 1789. \
At that first General Assembly, the Presbyterian Church (USA) consisted of 188 ministers, 97 of which were from Princeton, 52 of those being Witherspoon’s former pupils. At the 1791 General Assembly, Witherspoon remarked with joy that a majority of ministers present had been his students.
Few men in American history have been as consequential in so many different areas as John Witherspoon. While we are right to remember the lasting contributions he made to Princeton, the fight for independence, and the creation of a new nation, we should not forget his equally important work (which, for some, was his most important work) as a Presbyterian founding father in his adopted home.
Kevin DeYoung is the senior pastor of Christ Covenant Church in Matthews, North Carolina, and associate professor of systematic theology at Reformed Theological Seminary Charlotte.