Archibald
Alexander (1772-1851), an American minister from
Virginia, was the first professor of Princeton
Seminary. He was distinguished for his simple,
earnest piety and modesty, as well as his wide
learning.
Referring to someone who sought him out to speak
to him of Christ
He then represented Christ as an Advocate before the
throne of God, ready to undertake my cause, and able
to save to the uttermost all who come unto God by
him. A new view opened before me at this moment. I
did feel that I needed a Saviour, and I knew Christ
as an Advocate was able to save me.
From his inauguration address as professor of
the seminary
How delightful it must be to sit as a disciple at
the feet of Jesus, and with a child-like docility
imbibe the precious instruction from his Word and
Spirit! … When at times it pleases God to shine upon
his Word, whilst the believer reads its sacred
contents, what a divine glory illuminates the holy
page! What wonders do his opened eyes behold in the
cross! He seems to be translated into a new world,
and is ready to exclaim, ‘I have heard of thee by
the hearing of the ear; but now mine eye seeth thee’
… O! Could the pious reader of the Scriptures
constantly retain these spiritual views and these
holy impressions, heaven would be begun … But
whilst we are on our pilgrimage to this promised
land, the Scriptures will be ‘a light to our feet
and a lamp to our paths’. They will answer the same
purpose to us which the pillar of cloud and of fire
did to the Israelites. They will guide us in the
right way through all our journey. Let us, then, be
persuaded diligently ‘to search the Scriptures’.
Two snippets
We regard the missionary cause as the greatest
beneath the sun.
There are few truths of which I have a more
unwavering conviction, than that the sheep of
Christ, for whom he laid down his life, shall never
perish.
On the new birth
There is no more important event which occurs in our
world than the new birth of an immortal soul. Heirs
to titles and estates, to kingdoms and empires, are
frequently born, and such events are blazoned with
imposing pomp, and celebrated by poets and orators;
but what are all these honours and possessions but
the gewgaws [gaudy playthings] of children, when
compared with the inheritance and glory to which
every child of God is born an heir! But this being a
birth from above, and all the blessings and
privileges of the young heir, of a hidden and
spiritual nature, the world around cannot be
expected to take a lively interest in the event. It
is with the children of God as with the divine
Saviour; ‘the world knoweth them not, as it knew him
not’.
On spiritual warfare
The Christian is a soldier and must expect to
encounter enemies, and to engage in many a severe
conflict … The enemies of the Christian have been
commonly divided into three classes, the world, the
flesh, and the devil: but though these may be
conceived of, and spoken of, separately, they resist
the Christian soldier by their combined powers. The
devil is the agent, the world furnishes the bait or
the object of temptation, and the flesh, or our own
corrupt nature, is the subject on which the
temptation operates.
