Jacobus was honored with the Doctor of Divinity by Jefferson College, 1852, and the Doctor of Laws, by the College of New Jersey, 1867. But he appreciated most of all the honor of representing the Old School as its last moderator in 1869 and as joint moderator with the New School’s Rev. Philemon H. Fowler, D.D., for the reunited General Assembly 1870. However, like Matthew Henry, he was not able to complete his entire Bible commentary. Jacobus issued several publications that are available for download on the Log College Press website, “Melancthon Williams Jacobus, Sr. (1816-1876).”

Melancthon Williams, born September 19, 1816, was the first child of Peter and Phebe (Williams) Jacobus. His father owned a saddlery and harness making factory that abutted the family property in Newark, New Jersey. Mrs. Martha Hinsdale directed his early education at the local schoolhouse where he began studying Greek and Latin at the age of eight. He advanced to continue studies at Newark Academy. By the time he was twelve, Melancthon was working in the family factory as a colleague of the apprentices and journeymen while he kept up his studies. His father had warned him about the rough ways of some of the factory workers, which Melancthon found to be true through “times of sore temptation in which the loose habits of the apprentices were hurtful to me, notwithstanding all my father’s caution” (xi). In the case of the apprentices particularly, his comradery with them was challenging because they received bed and board within his home, and it was tough sometimes to be a Joseph and flee temptation. However, along with testing times was the benefit of the same salary the other men received. His family was historically Reformed Dutch, but they attended First Presbyterian Church which was served by William T. Hamilton and Joshua T. Russell. His father was an elder and Melancthon says of his father’s instruction concerning worship,

My father encouraged me to take down in the church the text and division of the sermon, and at noon-time and evening I was expected to transcribe these memoranda, with as full additions as I could recall from memory. This was a very useful exercise, inducing attention, and concentration, and cultivating an interest in the sermon. Two or three books of sermon outlines I have well filled as a result of such training. (xii)

This would have been an effective way to both teach the boy to listen to the sermon and when the notes were revised at noon and night, his memory would be jogged for further information. Added to his father’s program of instruction was a review of the catechism as taught at church.

At the age of fourteen his father sent him to a boarding school in nearby Bloomfield, New Jersey. The principal was Albert Pierson who also taught Latin. Among Jacobus’s classmates were several candidates for the ministry. At this point in life, he planned to become a lawyer even though his parents had devoted him from birth to the Gospel ministry. When he first appeared before the session to unite with First Church, the elders postponed admitting him to communion because one elder commented that Melancthon was “given to quickness of temper, which sometimes got the advantage” (xvi). At the time, communion was celebrated annually at First Church in a communion season, and the young man would go on to be admitted the following year.

As an alternative to practicing law, he contemplated taking a partnership in his father’s business. It was an obvious opportunity and others told him it would be the best thing for him to do. But his reoccurring sense of call to the ministry kept him from serious consideration of any other vocation.

Before a profession could be entered, some additional education was needed and the nearby village of Princeton was the obvious choice for college, so after remedial work in algebra with a tutor he matriculated with the sophomore class to the College of New Jersey, September 1831. Melancthon had surely seen the college before, but his encounter with the campus as a new student in a wagon hauling saddles and harnesses was daunting.

We rode into town on the open wagon which carried its load of goods, and as I caught the first sight of the Old North College [Nassau Hall], with its prison look, I felt a cold chill run over me, of shrinking from the ordeal I was to undergo. (xvi)

Despite his apprehension, he was a proficient student because as a junior he was chosen by the Cliosophic Society as an orator. At the end of his senior year, he was assigned first honors and was charged with the college’s oldest student honor, delivering the Latin Salutatory. After graduation, one of his professors, James W. Alexander, encountered him on campus, shook his hand vigorously while saying to him, “I shall always be glad to hear of your prosperity.” These few words of encouragement from a respected mentor remained fresh in Jacobus’s thoughts for the rest of his life, which shows how a simple but sincere comment from a mentor can yield lasting results for a student.

The question for Melancthon was, what is next?

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