Dead Presbyterians Society

In this episode , we explore William B. Sprague’s 1827 sermon on the meaning of American Independence. Delivered on the Fourth of July, Sprague calls Christians to celebrate the day with gratitude, reverence, and a clear recognition of God’s providence in the founding of the nation. A timely reflection on liberty, remembrance, and faithful stewardship of freedom.

In this episode we explore John Witherspoon’s famous sermon, The Dominion of Providence Over the Passions of Men . Preached in 1776 amid the growing struggle for American independence, Witherspoon reflects on God's sovereign rule over human affairs, showing how even conflict, suffering, and the ambitions of men ultimately serve His purposes. Along the way, he calls Christians to trust God'...

In this episode, we explore the life of Louisa A. Lowrie — a young missionary wife whose brief but radiant faith burned brightly for Christ. Through her own journals and letters, we see a woman of deep devotion, tender conscience, and unwavering surrender, who gave everything to the cause of the gospel even unto death. A moving testimony of holiness, missionary zeal, and wholehearted love for Chri...

In this episode of the Dead Presbyterians Society, we explore J.J. Janeway’s classic work Meditations on the Lord’s Supper . Drawing from Scripture and the Westminster Larger Catechism, Janeway guides believers in reverent self-examination, joyful communion with Christ, and renewed obedience after coming to the Table. A rich, pastoral resource for anyone seeking to approach the Lord’s Supper with...

Francis J. Grimké believed the preacher’s task was simple: faithfully proclaim the Word of God in dependence upon the Spirit of God. In this episode of the Dead Presbyterians Society, we explore Grimké’s remarkable life and enduring reflections on preaching, pastoral faithfulness, and the power of the Holy Spirit at work through the ministry of the Word. Learn more at ⁠confessional.org Greenville...

In this episode, we explore The Mission of Parenting by Thomas Smyth, a powerful call for Christian parents to see the home as the first mission field. Smyth challenges families to raise children not merely in knowledge, but in a living zeal for Christ’s kingdom and the spread of the gospel. Learn more at confessional.org Pastor, Greenville Seminary invites you to the 2026 Summer Seminar: Apologet...

This episode explores On the Emotional Life of Our Lord by B. B. Warfield, showing that Christ’s compassion, love, anger, joy, and sorrow were true and sinless expressions of His full humanity. As confessed in the Westminster Confession of Faith, He is fully God and fully man, “yet without sin,” and His affections were perfectly ordered in accordance with His holy nature. In this way, the emotiona...

Geerhardus Vos is often called the father of Reformed biblical theology. In this special crossover episode with Reformed Forum , Dr. Camden Bucey joins Dr. Jonathan Master on the Dead Presbyterians Society to discuss the life, work, and lasting influence of Geerhardus Vos. The conversation explores Vos’s contribution to Reformed biblical theology and reflects briefly on his place with the American...

In this episode we revisit James Henley Thornwell’s powerful warning against Antinomianism — the ancient error that turns grace into license. Thornwell reminds us that the gospel is “always crucified between two thieves”: legalism and lawlessness.

The Doctrine of Predestination explores Samuel Blair’s 1742 defense of God’s sovereign grace — a work praised by Archibald Alexander as the hand of a master. Writing during the era of the Log College and the Great Awakening, Blair answered objections to election not with speculation, but with Scripture — grounding the doctrine in Romans 9, Ephesians 1, and the justice and mercy of God. In this epi...

A Letter to Rome  examines Charles Hodge’s 1869 response to Pope Pius IX and the First Vatican Council, a rare moment when American Presbyterianism spoke directly to Rome. With clarity and charity, Hodge explains why the core issues of the Reformation—Scripture alone, the sufficiency of Christ, and the nature of church authority—made unity impossible. This episode revisits that letter and asks wha...

Behind every faithful sermon is a hidden place.  In this episode, we explore Thomas Murphy’s insistence that a pastor’s most essential work happens in the prayer closet, where private devotion shapes public ministry. Drawing on Murphy—and echoing Baxter, Miller, and Warfield—we’re reminded that the strength and character of the pulpit are formed in secret communion with God.

What hope does the covenant of grace offer when a baptized child dies? In this episode Jonathan Master explores T.D. Witherspoon’s  Children of the Covenant  (1873), written in the wake of profound loss and grounded in God’s promises rather than sentiment. Through the lives of three covenant children, Witherspoon points grieving parents and churches to Christ, the ordinary means of grace, and the...

In an age that treats the Lord’s Day as expendable, Samuel Miller calls the church to remember what God has promised through the Sabbath. Drawing from his introductory essay to Agnew’s Manual on the Christian Sabbath , this episode explores why the Fourth Commandment still matters—and why recovering the Lord’s Day may be essential to the church’s spiritual health.

What does it mean to be a faithful minister of the gospel? In his 1809 sermon The Duties of a Gospel Minister , John Holt Rice outlined the sacred charge of those called to shepherd Christ’s church — to preach the whole counsel of God, guard the flock, teach by example, train the young, and labor with an eye to eternity. In this episode, we explore Rice’s enduring vision for pastoral ministry and...

This episode tells the story of John Bailey Adger, a 19th-century missionary who served Christ both overseas and at home through translation work, preaching, and sacrificial ministry. His life challenges us to consider where Christ is calling us to pour out our own.

Thomas Murphy calls pastors back to the pulpit—the place where heaven meets earth each Lord’s Day. Preaching and prayer, he says, are the pastor’s highest duties and the church’s greatest need.

In this episode, we explore T.D. Witherspoon’s compelling case for the beauty and order of Presbyterian church government—rooted not in human hierarchy, but in Christ’s rule over His people through the courts of the church. Discover how these biblical principles safeguard unity, protect liberty, and strengthen the church’s witness today.

David Brainerd's short, sorrowful life became one of the most powerful missionary testimonies in church history. In this episode, we trace his struggle with depression, illness, and weakness - and how Jonathan Edwards saw in him true religion in practice: holiness, dependence, and redeeming the time for Christ's kingdom.

In his inaugural addresses, William Swan Plumer urged Christians to approach Scripture with humility, reverence, and prayer, keeping Christ at the very center of all study. Collected as Christ All in All: The Right Temper for a Theologian , his counsel remains vital—not just for seminarians, but for every believer seeking to grow in grace and in the knowledge of Christ.

Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. This podcast is built on a very simple conviction: in order to be faithful in the present, we must be rooted in the past. The old paths of Presbyterianism in the 18th and 19th century have much to teach us about...

B.B. Warfield never made peace with error—and neither should we. In his 1918 book   Counterfeit Miracles  (lectures originally delivered at Columbia Theological Seminary), he takes aim at false wonders that have distracted the church from the early centuries to modern “faith-healers,” and calls us to measure every claim by the all-sufficient Word of God.

In a tender and urgent sermon from 1758, Little Children Invited to Jesus Christ , Samuel Davies pleads with young hearers not to delay, but to come to Christ by faith. Preaching from Mark 10:14— “Suffer the little children to come unto me…” —Davies shows with remarkable clarity what it truly means to come to Christ.   Though preached over 250 years ago, the message remains timeless and is especia...

What does true evangelism look like? In a powerful 1856 sermon on John 10:17–18, James Henley Thornwell calls the church to a missions model shaped by the cross. For Thornwell, Christ’s self-giving sacrifice is both the message and method of evangelism. “The spirit of missions is the spirit of the gospel,” he declares—bold words we still need to hear today.

What does pastoral faithfulness look like—without fame or platform? Cornelius Washington Grafton served one small church in rural Mississippi for over 60 years. In 1916, after 43 years in that same pulpit, he was elected Moderator of the General Assembly. In his address,  A Forty-Three Year Pastorate in a Country Church , Grafton shares a moving account of quiet perseverance, hardship, and joy in...