4
August 1842 A.D. Rev. Nathaniel
Smyth McFetridge Born—Irish Presbyterian & Pennsylvania Pastor, Author,
& Professor
August 4: Nathaniel S. McFetridge
[1842-1886]
Author of an Old Classic
Nathaniel Smyth McFetridge was born in Ireland, 4 August 1842. His
parents immigrated to the United States while he was still a child and
Nathaniel was raised in Catasauqua, Pennsylvania. His formal education began at
Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania. While attending there, he won the
school’s Fowler Prize for an essay on Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.
McFetridge graduated from Lafayette in 1864, shortly before the
inauguration of the Rev. William C. Cattell as president of Lafayette.
McFetridge began his studies for the ministry at Western
Theological Seminary in Pittsburgh, where he studied under the renowned
Archibald A. Hodge. McFetridge graduated from Western in 1867 and was ordained
into the ministry by the Presbytery of Erie (PCUSA), being installed in 1868 as
pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Oil City, PA. That church had been
organized in 1861 with twelve members and two ruling elders. His predecessor,
the Rev. W.P. Moore, had served the Oil City congregation as stated supply
since 1863.
Whatever the cause, a major loss of membership in the Oil
City congregation—between 1865 in 1872 and dropping to the 151 members reported
in 1873—may have been what prompted his relocation to the Wakefield
Presbyterian Church of Germantown, PA in 1874. Transferring his credentials,
Rev. McFetridge was received by the Presbytery of Philadelphia, North and
served as the first pastor of the Wakefield congregation, from 1874 until 1885.
It is interesting to note that the congregation began as the Wakefield Sunday-school,
located in Fisher’s Hollow, PA. This Sunday-school was organized in 1856 by
Quakers (Society of Friends, Orthodox), and was constituted in part by members
of the Fisher family who had immigrated from Wakefield, England. Active
participation in the school by Philadelphia-area Presbyterians eventually
overtook the more subdued methods of the Quakers, and by 1873 the decision was
made to establish a Presbyterian congregation. With the assistance of three
other Presbyterian churches in Germantown, a site was secured and almost the
entire membership of the School, faculty and students alike, joined in the
organization of a new Wakefield Presbyterian Sunday-school. It was this group
that then formed on 4 May 1874 the new congregation that occupied the chapel
erected on Main Street below Fisher’s Lane. Under Rev. McFetridge’s leadership,
the church grew from 22 members to over 200 members at the time of his
departure.
It
was also during the Wakefield pastorate that Rev. McFetridge delivered the six
lectures from which he later gathered the text of Calvinism in History.
Published in 1882, it predates Abraham Kuyper’s more widely known Stone
Lectures for 1898, which were published under the title Lectures on Calvinism. It
might be an interesting exercise to compare the two works, though at the start,
Kuyper’s treatment is immediately seen as more scholarly and profound, whereas
McFetridge aimed his work at the average person in the pew.
Rev. McFetridge was noted in the 1885 Minutes of
General Assembly (PCUSA) as without charge, but the circumstances of
his leaving the Wakefield church are now lost to history. By 1886 he had
relocated to St. Paul, Minnesota, was received by the Presbytery of St. Paul,
and is noted as laboring as a professor. He may also have been employed by
Macalester College, which opened in 1885 with five professors on its staff.
Rev. McFetridge was residing in St. Paul at the time of his death on 3 December
1886, at the age of 44.
Noted honors included the honorary Doctor of Divinity
degree, and in 1878 he brought the Annual Sermon before the Brainerd
Evangelical Society of Lafayette College. The Brainerd Society was named in
honor of David Brainerd, and was Layfayette’s first student-led Christian
organization. The Society was founded in 1833 and was in existence until 1956,
making it the longest running student organization on that campus. The year
before Rev. McFetridge spoke, the Brainerd Society had come into affiliation
with the Young Men’s Christian Association. Other speakers before the Brainerd
Society included Matthew Allison in 1854, James W. Dale in 1862 and Thomas
Hasting Robinson in 1867.
The Minutes of the Wakefield Presbyterian Church of
Germantown, PA are preserved at the Presbyterian Historical Society in
Philadelphia, PA and these encompass the years of Rev. McFetridge’s pastorate,
1874-1885.
Words to Live By:
“There is nothing which so constantly controls the mind of a man, and so
intensely affects his character, as the views which he entertains of the Deity.
These take up their abode in the inmost sanctuary of the heart, and give tone
to all its powers and coloring to all its actions. Whatever the forms and
activities of the outward life, as a man “thinketh in his heart, so is he.” Men
do, undoubtedly, liken God, in a measure, to themselves, and transfer to him
somewhat of their own passions and predominating moral qualities, and determine
the choice of their religion by the prevailing sentiments of their hearts and
the habits in which they have been trained; but it is also true that their
conceptions of God have a controlling influence in forming their character and
regulating their conduct. The unfaithful servant in the parable of the Talents
gave as the reason for his idleness his conception of the master as a hard and exacting
man. He shaped his conduct not by what the master was, but by what he believed
him to be. And if that divine parable have a worldwide application, it
discloses the secret spring of a man’s life in the conceptions which he has of
God. As these are true or false, so his character and life will be. “As long as
we look upon God as an exactor, not a giver, exactors, and not givers, shall we
be.” “All the value of service rendered,” says Dr. Arnot, “by intellectual and
moral beings depends on the thoughts of God which they entertain.” Hence no
sincerity of purpose and no intensity of zeal can atone for a false creed or
save a man from the fatal consequences of wrong principles.” [—Opening
paragraph of Calvinism in
History.]
The Writings of Nathaniel Smyth McFetridge—
1864
An essay on the Prologue
of Chaucer’s Canterbury tales (s.l. :
s.n., 1864), 16pp.; 22cm. [This was McFetridge’s winning submission for
the Fowler Prize at Lafayette, and so it is likely that it was published in
Easton, PA by the College. Copies have been located at the New York Public
Library; Lafayette College and Brown University]
1879
Memorial sermon : preached
in the Wakefield Presbyterian Church, Germantown, July 13, 1879. (Philadelphia : Press of Burk & M’Fetridge,
1879), 17pp. [Sermon in commemoration of William Adamson. Copies of the sermon
have been located at Emory University’s Pitts Theological Library; Lafayette College;
and the Presbyterian Historical Society in Philadelphia]
1882
Calvinism in History (Philadelphia : Presbyterian Board of Publication,
1882), 157pp.
Reprints include, among others:
1. (Philadelphia : Presbyterian Board of Publication and Sabbath-school Work,
1912, © 1882), 157pp.
2. (Edmonton, AB, Canada : Still Water Revival Books, 1882; rpt 1989), xi,
120pp.
3. Available at the Internet Archive, in multiple formats, here: https://archive.org/details/calvinisminhisto00mcfe
Louis F. De Boer reviewed Calvinism
in History some years ago, but found the work deficient. He
concludes his review:
“. . .the book remained, for me at least, a
disappointment. The book references such inspired writing on the subject as
Daubigne’s histories of the Reformation and Motley’s histories of the Dutch
republic, but its own insipid prose fails to rise to their level, and stir the
reader with what God hath wrought in history through the faith of the
Calvinists. Unfortunately, most people will never take the time to read the
lengthy works noted above. Which
leaves me with the conclusion, that a short book (this one consists of 113
pages) that does justice to the subject is just waiting to be either written or
reprinted. Hopefully, that challenge will be taken up in the near future by
someone who is saddened by the abysmal ignorance of this generation of the
theological foundations for their liberties, prosperity, and indeed for all
that they have historically held dear.”
Which then raises the question whether Darryl Hart’s very
recent work, Calvinism: A History, might not be the treatment that has
successfully taken up that challenge? To
read Louis F. DeBoer’s review of this work, click
here.
1883
Thompson, Robert Ellis and Nathaniel
S. McFetridge, The dear man of God : Doctor Martin Luther of blessed memory.
1483-1883 ; proceedings at the observance of the fourth centenary of his birth,
in the Presbyterian Church of Abington in Pennsylvania ; with a memorial
discourse (Philadelphia : s.n., 1883), 43pp. [the latter memorial discourse
is by N.S. McFetridge; copies located at the Yale University Library; New York
Historical Society; Lafayette College; Lutheran Theological Seminary; and the
Presbyterian Historical Society]
Sources—
Coffin, Selden J., Record of the Men of Lafayette
(Easton, PA : Skinner & Finch, Printers, 1879), pg. 66.
Minutes of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian
Church in the U.S.A.,(New
York: Presbyterian Board of Publications, individual volumes for the years 1872
– 1887).
White, William P., The
Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia (Philadelphia : Allen, Lane
& Scott, 1895), pg. 151.
Other sources to consult—
Program of exercises held in celebration of the fiftieth
anniversary of organization of the First Presbyterian Church of Oil City,
Pennsylvania (Oil City, PA :
Semi-Centennial Committee of the First Presbyterian Church, 1912), 31pp.
[copies held by the Presbyterian Historical Society (Philadelphia), and the
Wisconsin Historical Society.
Reeves, Francis B., A Brief Sketch of Wakefield
Presbyterian Church and Sunday School, Germantown Avenue below Fisher’s Lane,
Philadelphia, 1856-1910.
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