Dead Presbyterians Society

What does it mean to be a faithful minister of the gospel? In his 1809 sermon The Duties of a Gospel Minister, John Holt Rice outlined the sacred charge of those called to shepherd Christ’s church — to preach the whole counsel of God, guard the flock, teach by example, train the young, and labor with an eye to eternity. In this episode, we explore Rice’s enduring vision for pastoral ministry and why his words still speak powerfully to the church today.

This episode tells the story of John Bailey Adger, a 19th-century missionary who served Christ both overseas and at home through translation work, preaching, and sacrificial ministry. His life challenges us to consider where Christ is calling us to pour out our own.

Thomas Murphy calls pastors back to the pulpit—the place where heaven meets earth each Lord’s Day. Preaching and prayer, he says, are the pastor’s highest duties and the church’s greatest need.

In this episode, we explore T.D. Witherspoon’s compelling case for the beauty and order of Presbyterian church government—rooted not in human hierarchy, but in Christ’s rule over His people through the courts of the church. Discover how these biblical principles safeguard unity, protect liberty, and strengthen the church’s witness today.

David Brainerd's short, sorrowful life became one of the most powerful missionary testimonies in church history. In this episode, we trace his struggle with depression, illness, and weakness - and how Jonathan Edwards saw in him true religion in practice: holiness, dependence, and redeeming the time for Christ's kingdom.

In his inaugural addresses, William Swan Plumer urged Christians to approach Scripture with humility, reverence, and prayer, keeping Christ at the very center of all study. Collected as Christ All in All: The Right Temper for a Theologian, his counsel remains vital—not just for seminarians, but for every believer seeking to grow in grace and in the knowledge of Christ.

Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

This podcast is built on a very simple conviction: in order to be faithful in the present, we must be rooted in the past. The old paths of Presbyterianism in the 18th and 19th century have much to teach us about the path we walk today.

In weekly 30 minute episodes, we will reflect on the lives and works of figures such as Archibald Alexander, B.M. Palmer, and Charles Hodge. We will consider enduring themes–prayer, Christian experience, and the church–matters of eternal significance for the people of God until Christ returns.

B.B. Warfield never made peace with error—and neither should we. In his 1918 book  Counterfeit Miracles (lectures originally delivered at Columbia Theological Seminary), he takes aim at false wonders that have distracted the church from the early centuries to modern “faith-healers,” and calls us to measure every claim by the all-sufficient Word of God.

In a tender and urgent sermon from 1758, Little Children Invited to Jesus Christ, Samuel Davies pleads with young hearers not to delay, but to come to Christ by faith. Preaching from Mark 10:14—“Suffer the little children to come unto me…”—Davies shows with remarkable clarity what it truly means to come to Christ.

Though preached over 250 years ago, the message remains timeless and is especially important as parents consider their own children, and church members consider the children among them. 

What does true evangelism look like? In a powerful 1856 sermon on John 10:17–18, James Henley Thornwell calls the church to a missions model shaped by the cross. For Thornwell, Christ’s self-giving sacrifice is both the message and method of evangelism.

“The spirit of missions is the spirit of the gospel,” he declares—bold words we still need to hear today.