March 16: Young Theologians

The Morning Watch was published, edited, and primarily written by the Rev. J. P. Struthers, minister of the Greenock congregation of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Scotland. From a small collection of juvenile literature at the PCA Historical Center, the following artwork is from that Scottish publication, in an issue dated 1910. The caption reads: 

“These young Scottish theologians are settling the point as to whether the Shorter Catechism says the Sum of the Ten Commandments is . . .  to love our NEIGHBOR, or, our NEIGHBORS. The upper boy says it’s the plural, the under says it’s the singular, each of them, especially the upper one, forgetting that the important thing in the sentence is not the letter S, but the word LOVE. But so did their fathers before them!

youngTheologians

 

  1. Phil Pockras’s avatar

    J. P. Struthers was one of a kind! Scholarly in Biblical Languages, offered a D.D. by Glasgow (he refused it), but known especially for preaching Christ and Him crucified, and his work in godly children’s literature through editing and doing most of the writing for _The Morning Watch_. The artist illustrator nearly the entire run was Miss Annie McDonald, who, after many years, became Mrs. J. P. Struthers. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._P._Struthers

    _The Morning Watch_ is *very* difficult to find. It’s well-worth having. I have a number of bound volumes, perhaps half of all issues, and would love to have more. It was “just” a Sabbath School paper, so many were never preserved. Those that were are so precious to those who own them, more than a hundred years later, that they will *not* give them up. I won’t! They’ll go to my sons. Mine were given me when I was pastoring for the summer in the RP of Ireland. A widow of a former minister of the congregation gave them to me. What a gift!

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