John Witherspoon was born in Gifford, Scotland, about fifteen or twenty miles east southeast of Edinburgh, on February 15, 1723. He was the son of a Church of Scotland minister and, on his mother’s side, a descendant of John Knox, the founder of the Church of Scotland.
He was well educated, earning both an M.A. and a divinity degree from the University of Edinburgh and a Doctor of Divinity from St. Andrews. While serving as a pastor in Scotland, he wrote three influential theological treatises.
In 1768 he accepted a call as the sixth President of the
Presbyterian College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) and
emigrated to the colonies with his wife and five children.
As
President, Dr. Witherspoon required that all students studying for
ministry, law or government take a course in Moral Philosophy, which he
taught and in which he espoused not only Presbyterian moral values, but
also limited government. Among the students who took that class, three
became supreme court justices; thirty-four became judges; ten were
cabinet ministers; twelve were members of the Continental Congress;
twenty-eight became Senators; forty-nine were Congressmen; one was
Vice-President (Aaron Burr), and one was President (James Madison). It
would not be an overstatement to say that his influence was profound.
In
1776, he published a sermon entitled “The Dominion of Providence over
the Passions of Men” concerning the need for independence. He was
elected a representative from New Jersey to the Continental Congress
and voted for independence. When questioned whether the country was
ready, he famously replied that it “was not only ripe for the measure,
but in danger of rotting for the want of it.”
On July 4, 1776,
he became the only member of the clergy to sign the Declaration of
Independence. He died in 1794 and is buried in Princeton Cemetery.
Happy Fourth to all of you and to all in the generations before us who saw in their Presbyterian Theology the need for freedom.
Pastor Rusty
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF WARREN 256 Mahoning Ave., NW | Warren, OH 44483 | (phone) 330-393-1524 | (fax) 330-393-1526 | (e-mail) fpcwarren@hotmail.com
