Mark Cole
Pastor, theologian, State Representative, Congressman, college president, patriot. Each of these titles are accurately applied to John Witherspoon.
Born in Scotland, Witherspoon stayed in his homeland for the first forty-five years of his life, honing his Presbyterian theology (earning a doctorate from Edinburgh) and developing a strong mistrust of the British crown.
His mistrust of the crown was mutual – and warranted. In a sign of things to come, Witherspoon was imprisoned in Scotland by the British during the Highlander uprising against the Crown in 1745-46.
When he finally emigrated to America at the urging of eventual fellow signers of the Declaration, Benjamin Rush and Richard Stockton, it was to take on a particular task: the presidency of the College of New Jersey (later Princeton).
This position was not an insignificant one; it had been held previously by none other than Jonathan Edwards. Nor did Witherspoon immediately jump at the chance to leave his homeland and head up the struggling college. In fact, when the initial offer was tendered to Witherspoon to head the college, he declined. That was in 1766. Benjamin Rush, then a medical student at Edinburgh, upon hearing of Witherspoon’s decline, wrote a passionate (if not overly dramatic) letter to Witherspoon bemoaning what Rush was sure would be the death of the college without Witherspoon at the helm:
“O Nassau Hall, Nassau Hall, in vain rescued and cherished by every Lover of religion, since thou art to fall into the Hands of some—but I cannot express it—my Heart bleeds within me—O Nassau Hall, Nassau Hall.”
And so on. Fortunately, Rush’s agony would not last forever. Some two years later, Witherspoon finally accepted the presidency and began preparations to leave his native Scotland and move to New Jersey. Benjamin Rush’s ecstasy at this news was as striking as his distress had been previously. He wrote to Witherspoon:
“Oh, Sir, does not your heart expand with unutterable sentiments of love and benevolence when you think that you are to be the means of rescuing so important a Seminary from ruin? Don’t you some time Anticipate the transport of being received with ten thousand welcomes the moment you land in America? And of being at the head of an Institution on which the spreading of the Gospel through the wide extended continent of America now entirely depends?—to preside over that College methinks is a Providence worthy of an Angel!”
Providence, of course, would also dictate that a few years after his arrival in America, Witherspoon and Rush (together with Richard Stockton, who played no small role in Witherspoon’s recruitment, as well) would sign the Declaration of Independence together.
And Providence also decreed that Rush’s optimistic prophecy about the College of New Jersey affecting events on the entire continent would turn out to be true. Of course one man’s hopeful prediction can become another man’s lamentation, if Providence so desires. An English military officer once wrote of John Witherspoon:
“An account of the present face of things in America would be very defective indeed, if no mention was made of this political firebrand, who perhaps had not a less share in the Revolution than Washington himself. He poisons the minds of his young Students and through them the Continent.”
Witherspoon’s poison from the English perspective, proved to be Witherspoon’s nourishment from the American perspective….
John Witherspoon’s story will continue next week! Stay tuned!
Check out Mark’s book:
Lives, Fortunes, Sacred Honor: The Men Who Signed the Declaration of Independence
