Archibald Alexander
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Archibald Alexander (1772–1851) was the founding father of Princeton Theological Seminary and one of the most influential figures in the history of American Presbyterianism. Born in Rockbridge County, Virginia, he was educated by private tutors and in 1791 became a licensed preacher for the Hanover Presbytery at the age of seventeen — already showing the combination of evangelical warmth and doctrinal seriousness that would mark his ministry.
He served as a circuit-riding preacher in the Virginia backcountry, as president of Hampden-Sydney College, and as pastor of Third Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia before being appointed in 1812 as the first professor of the newly founded Princeton Theological Seminary. The seminary was established to provide a more rigorous theological education than the colleges could offer, and Alexander shaped its character from the beginning: deeply Calvinistic in doctrine, warmly evangelical in piety, and committed to the Westminster standards as the faithful summary of biblical teaching.
For nearly four decades, Alexander taught at Princeton alongside his son James Waddel Alexander and later Charles Hodge, forming what became known as "the Princeton Theology" — a tradition of careful, confessional Calvinist scholarship that dominated American Presbyterian thought through the nineteenth century. His Thoughts on Religious Experience (1841) and Evidences of the Authenticity, Inspiration, and Canonical Authority of the Holy Scriptures remain valuable examples of his combination of doctrinal precision and pastoral concern.
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A Practical View of Regeneration - Part I
That human nature has lost that moral purity and perfection with which it was originally endued, is a truth which lies at the heart of the Christian religion. Indeed, we see not how it can be denied by the deist, without casting a gross reflection on the character of God. It is only from the…
A Practical View of Regeneration - Part II
The question is sometimes asked, whether is regeneration an instantaneous or a gradual work? This is not a merely speculative question. If this is a gradual work, the soul may for some time, yea, for years, be hanging between life and death, and be in neither one state or nor the other, which is…
A Practical View of Regeneration - Part III
From what has been said we may deduce the following summary. 1. Regeneration is the commencement of spiritual life in a soul before dead in sin, by the omnipotent agency of God; and the exercises of this life are specifically different from all the exercises of an unregenerate heart. 2. The…
Fasting
[/caption] Yesterday a pious young minister called upon me, and said he wished I would write a short article on the duty of fasting. He observed, that among Christians of our day he feared this duty was much neglected. I referred him to a valuable discourse of the late venerable Doctor Miller on…
Prayer a Privilege
[/caption] Although God is everywhere present, yet he is invisible. He is an all-pervading Spirit, yet is perceived by none of our senses. We behold his glorious works in the heavens and in the earth, and may learn something, by careful observation, of the general laws by which the material…
Sinners Welcome to Come to Jesus Christ
[/caption] Our blessed Lord knew how prone convinced sinners are to unbelief as it regards the reception which he is disposed to give them if they come to him, and therefore he graciously uttered, and has left on record this precious encouragement, "Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast…
The Importance of Salvation
[/caption] In comparison with salvation, all other subjects are trivial. To waste time in the pursuit of wealth, or in the chase of sensual pleasure, while our salvation is not secure, is more than folly—it is madness. What, would you agree to dwell in the dark dungeon of despair forever and ever,…