This section of our web site is intended to provide a topical guide to the
Collections of the PCA Historical Center. As time permits, materials relevant
to various issues and discussions within the Church will be gathered and
posted. Some of these topics will include:
- Baptism
1. Report
of the Study Committee on Validity of Previous Baptism [RPCES, 1981]
2. Baptism and Non-Communing Membership (PCA, 1977)
3. Appendix P:
Report on the Validity of Certain Baptisms (PCA, 1987)
4. Appendices
to the Report on the Validity of Certain Baptisms (PCUSA, Old School,
1845)
5. Minority Report,
Ad Hoc Committee on the Validity of Certain Baptisms (PCA, 1987)
6. Baptism -- Click here to print articles 2 - 5 above as one file.
7. "Infant Baptism: Its Meaning and Its Authority," by Rev. Ben L. Rose [SPJ, 8.19 (1 Feb. 1950): 8-12.
8. Don Dunkerley - Sermon on Baptism, delivered at the McIlwain Presbyterian Church, Pensacola, FL, 11/26/1972. a
- Diaconate / Office of Deacon
Articles from The Southern Presbyterian Review
Ramsay, Rev. James Beverlin, "The Deaconship," 12.1 (April 1859): 1-24.
Boggs, Rev. William Ellison, "The Deacon’s Office in the Church of the New Testament," 26.3 (July 1875): 421-461.
Girardeau, Rev. John L., "The Diaconate," Part I - 30.1 (January 1879): 1-32
Girardeau, "The Diaconate," Part II - 31.1 (January 1880): 117-160
Girardeau, "The Importance of the Office of Deacon," 32.1 (January 1881): 1-29
Lefevre, Rev. Jacob Amos, "The Presbyterian Diaconate," 32.2 (April 1881): 343-354.
Lefevre, "The Diaconate of Scripture," 32.2 (April 1881): 355-368.
Girardeau, "The Diaconate Again," Part I - 32.4 (October 1881) 628-664
- General materials on the office of the deacon--
1869 - James M. Willson, The Deacon: An Inquiry into the Nature, Duties and Exercise of the Office..
___________Chapter 1: The Deacon a Standing Church Officer (argument from Scriptures; deacons in early church, etc.)
___________Chapter 2: The Nature of the Deacon's Office (care of poor and management of finances, etc.)
___________Chapter 3: Of the Substitutes for the Deacon (contra Boards of Trustees)
___________Chapter 4: The Relations of the Deacon. The Deacon is Subordinate to the Ecclesiastical Courts.
___________Chapter 5: Conclusion and Appendix
1840s - Anonymous, "The Scriptural Office of the Deacon," in Presbyterian Tracts, vol. 6, tract no. 94, 16 pp.
1855 - Stuart Robinson, "The Office of Deacon," The Presbyterial Critic 1.6 (June 1855): 271-277.
1855 - Stuart Robinson, "Trustees of Church Property--Their Functions and Relations to the Deacons of the Church," The Presbyterial Critic 1.11 (November 1855): 490-497.
New: 1880 - Rev. W.H. M'Millan, "The Diaconate a Scriptural Office," Evangelical Repository 57.1 (June 1880): 15-20.
1882 - J. Aspinwall Hodge, What Is Presbyterian Law?, Chapter 6--Of Deacons
1884 - Report on the Diaconate, by John L. Girardeau, Robert L. Dabney and Thomas E. Peck
1892 - T.E. Peck, Notes on Ecclesiology, Chapter 19--Deacons
New: 1903 - R.C. Reed, "The Deacon," The Union Seminary Magazine 15.2 (1903): 215-224.
1978 - Diaconal Principles of the NAPARC Churches [Report, Sixth PCA General Assembly, Minutes, Appendix D]
Exegetical and historical consideration or debate regarding deaconesses--
1889 - B.B. Warfield, "Presbyterian Deaconesses"
1945 - PCUS Actions regarding deaconesses, 1880-1926
1976-1978 - RPCES studies on the Role of Women in the Church
1977 - Gordon H. Clark, "The Ordination of Women" [written in response to the 1976 RPCES study. An early draft of this article, with annotations, is found among the Gordon Clark Papers at the PCA Historical Center. The included explanatory preface was added later and is found in subsequent reprints of Clark's works by The Trinity Foundation.]
Materials in preparation--
James M. Willson, The Deacon: An Inquiry into the Nature, Duties and Exercise of the Office of Deacon in the Christian Church (Philadelphia: William S. Young, 1869), 59 p.
1978 - Francis Nigel Lee, "The Office of All Believers" and "The Office of Deacon"
Larger Issues -- Discussion of Office, Ordination, etc.
1854 - John G. Shepperson, "Authority of Ecclesiastical Rulers," Part I, Southern Presbyterian Review 8.1 (July 1854).
Additional resources located off-site:
1987 - OPC study: Hermeneutics of Women in Ordained Office
- Divorce and Remarriage
1973 Report of the Study Committee on Divorce and Remarriage (RPCES)
1973 - Is Remarriage a bar to holding church office? (RPCES)
1979 Report of the Ad Interim Theological Committee on Divorce (PCA)
1992 Report of the Ad Interim Committee on Divorce and Remarriage (PCA)
- Funeral Sermons
1. Hodge, Charles, Funeral Sermon for the Rev. Dr. Jacob Jones Janeway, D.D. (1858)
2. New: McLeod, John Niel, "The Dying Christian's Estimate of Heaven" (1858) - funeral sermon for the Rev. Andrew Watson Black. Both McLeod and Black were sons of prominent early leaders of the Reformed Presbyterian denomination, and so McLeod's deliverance becomes a benchmark on the death of the second generation. A powerful, touching sermon!
- Paedocommunion [pdf format only]
1. Report of the Ad-Interim
Committee to Study the Question of Paedocommunion, from the 16th
General Assembly, 1988, Appendix T, p. 516f. Includes the Minority Report
and the Bibliography presented to the 17th General Assembly, 1989. Papers
listed in the Bibliography are available from the PCA Historical Center.
- Sexuality
1. RPCNA Study on Sexual Orientation (revised)
- Subscription
1. Adopting
Act of 1729, together with subsequent acts & deliverances
2. The Vow of Teaching
and Ruling Elders, by the Rev. Dr. Samuel Miller [1769-1850] [html]
[pdf]
3. Benjamin
Breckinridge Warfield on efforts in the PCUSA to revise the Westminster
Standards
4. "What is the
"System of Doctrine?" by the Rev.
Prof. Charles Hodge, D.D., LL.D. [1797-1878]
5. Address
on the 200th Anniversary of the Adopting Act, by Frederick W. Loetscher,
D.D., LL.D. [html]
[pdf]
6. Special Committee
Report on the Second Ordination Vow, from the RPCES Documents of
Synod (1971)
7. Overture to Change
the Second Ordination Vow, Documents of Synod (1972)
8. Pre-General Assembly Conference (2001), with Presentations by
• (1.) Dr. Bryan Chapell — "Perspective on the Subscription Standards of the Presbyterian Church in America."
• (2.) Rev. David Coffin — "The Practice of Subscription."
• (3.) Dr. Tim Keller — "How Then Shall We Live Together?—Subscription and the Future of the PCA."
• (4.) Dr. Joey Pipa — "The Confessing Church
9 . Overture to Amend BCO 21-4
to Specify Good Faith Subscription (PCA, 2002)
- Theonomy
1. Definition of Theonomy,
from the 7th General Assembly (PCA), 1979, 7-49, III, 22, p. 115.
2. Constitutional Inquiry on WCF 19-4,
from the 11th PCA General Assembly, 1983, Minutes, 11-36, III, 29, p.
96-97.
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