---
title: 'A Window into Early American Presbyterianism: The Virginia Religious Magazine (1804–1807)'
type: post
author: 'Zachary Groff'
date: 2022-02-05
url: https://confessional.org/blog/2022-a-window-into-early-american-presbyterianism-the-virginia-religious-magazine-1804-1807
---

# A Window into Early American Presbyterianism: The Virginia Religious Magazine (1804–1807)

*Editorial note: Our guest writer today is* ***Zachary Groff****, Director of Advancement & Admissions at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary and Pastor of Antioch Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Woodruff, SC.*

From 1804 to 1807, ***The Virginia Religious Magazine*** enjoyed the editorial labors of then-President of Hampden-Sydney College [Archibald Alexander](/authors/archibald-alexander) and “a few of his ministerial colleagues” (perhaps including [Samuel Houston](/authors/samuel-houston), [Matthew Lyle](/authors/matthew-lyle), [George A. Baxter](/authors/george-addison-baxter), [Samuel Brown](/authors/samuel-brown), [Daniel Blain](/authors/daniel-blain), Samuel L. Campbell, [Conrad Speece](/authors/conrad-speece), and [John Holt Rice](/authors/john-holt-rice)) “under the auspices of the Presbyterian Synod of Virginia.”

This short-lived Presbyterian periodical ran through three volumes comprised of six issues each. Despite its short tenure and relative obscurity, *The Virginia Religious Magazine* deserves celebration as one of the earliest religious periodicals in the United States of America, preceded by the *Connecticut Evangelical Magazine* (published by the congregational Missionary Society of Connecticut). Barring the discovery of evidence to the contrary, *The Virginia Religious Magazine* was the first such publication in the American South.

Though the authorship of individual articles included in the *Magazine* is difficult to determine, readers will benefit from a careful examination and consideration of the contents. [William H. Foote](/authors/william-henry-foote) attributes four (unspecified) articles to the pre-Princetonian Archibald Alexander, though the principal contributors seem to have been Conrad Speece and John Holt Rice.

Readers may choose to read the contents of the *Magazine* from beginning to end to catch a glimpse of an important historical moment in the development of American Presbyterianism. Reflections on practical religion, church history, theological topics, and contemporary revivals provide a window into the religious life of American Christians as they pressed westward into the frontier. Alternatively, a more selective approach to the contents of the *Magazine* will yield great spiritual benefit to interested readers. For example, the cautionary tale of Jack Vincent (*The History of Jack Vincent*, as found in Vol. 2, No. 4, pp. 212-222), which is authored under the pseudonym Philo and attributed by William H. Foote to John Holt Rice, is a moving apocryphal – or at least embellished – account of the sad life and death of a certain Jack Vincent. Such tales powerfully warned readers away from carelessness in religion and child-rearing. In these stories we recognize one of the perennial concerns of ministers and parents: the diligent nurture and admonition of the rising generation.

To access *The Virginia Religious Magazine* in its entirety, please refer to the [Archibald Alexander page](/authors/archibald-alexander). To pursue your own research into this fascinating periodical, be sure to consult the biographies of John Holt Rice, one by [Philip B. Price](/authors/philip-barbour-price) and the other by [William Maxwell](/authors/william-maxwell), both available on the Log College Press website. *Tolle Lege!*