Alexander, James - (1804-1859) - My Brothers Keeper

Excerpt:

Letters from James Alexander (1804—1859) to his younger brother, on the virtues and vices, the duties and dangers of youth.

Reading the Scriptures

My dear brother,
You gave me much gratification when you informed me that you were attentive to the reading of the Scriptures. And I rejoice to find you inquiring how you may continue to read them with greater profit. I shall answer your questions, and shall also, from time to time, write you some directions on other things; such as your learning, your manners, and your amusements. I take your questions as you ask them.

1. Ought I to read the Bible in regular order?

I think you ought. Not that this should be the only way of reading—but every day you should be going forward. Suppose you were roaming through a beautiful estate, and that your object was to learn all about it. You might pursue two methods. First, you might set out at one of the gates, and follow the first path, then strike off into a grove, and walk a few steps; then branch into a garden; then return to see the fishpond or the statue. You might spend a day or two in this employment, and at the end of it you would have seen a great many beautiful things. But while you had looked at some of these four or five times over, there would be a great number of spots which you had not seen at all. Instead of looking ten times at the observatory, you might have looked at ten different scenes. What was the matter? I will tell you; you did not view it in regular order. You had no plan. So you might spend years in reading the Scriptures; and at the end of them, you would have learned many whole chapters or even books of the Bible; yet there might be some very useful parts which you would know nothing about. Why? Because you did not read in regular order.

 

About the Author:

James Waddel Alexander (March 13, 1804 – July 31, 1859) was an American Presbyterian minister and theologian who followed in the footsteps of his father, Rev. Archibald Alexander.
Alexander was born in 1804 in Louisa County, Virginia, the eldest son of Rev. Archibald Alexander and his wife Janetta Waddel. He was born on the Hopewell estate near present-day Gordonsville at the residence of his maternal grandfather after whom he was named, the blind Presbyterian preacher James Waddel. His younger brothers included William Cowper Alexander (1806-1874), president of the New Jersey State Senate and first president of the Equitable Life Assurance Society, and Joseph Addison Alexander (1809-1860), a biblical scholar.

At the time of Alexander's birth, his father was president of Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia. He attended his first schools in Philadelphia after his father was called to serve as minister of the Third Presbyterian Church in 1807. The family then moved to Princeton, New Jersey when Archibald Alexander was named the first professor of the Princeton Theological Seminary in 1812. Alexander entered the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) in 1817 and graduated in 1820.

After graduation Alexander studied theology at the Princeton Seminary. In 1824 he was appointed a tutor, and during the same year he was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of New Brunswick, New Jersey. He was pastor of a Presbyterian church in Charlotte County, Virginia from 1826 to 1828, and of the First Presbyterian Church of Trenton, New Jersey from 1829 to 1832.

In 1833 he was appointed Professor of Rhetoric and Belles-Letters in the College of New Jersey. He served in this position until 1844, when he became pastor of New York City's Duane Street Presbyterian Church. He served as professor of ecclesiastical history and church government at Princeton Seminary from 1849 to 1851. He then returned to the New York church, which in its new location was known as the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church. He served as minister there until his death.

Alexander became a patron of Henry Baldwin Hyde, who founded the Equitable Life Assurance Society in 1859. Many of the company's original directors were members of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church recruited by Alexander. Alexander's brother, William Cowper Alexander, was named the first president of the company. His son, James Waddell Alexander, would also later serve as president of the company, while another son, William C. Alexander, served as company secretary.

Alexander died of dysentery in Red Sweet Springs, Alleghany County, Virginia in 1859 at the age of 55. He had visited the springs due to his feeble health. He was buried in the family plot at Princeton Cemetery