WESTMINSTER SEMINARY 38TH COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES After the formal program there is always a time when faculty, trustees, graduates and their relatives, and a host of the seminary's friends linger for congratulations and conversation, and a tea served in Machen Hall. The Rev. LeRoy Oliver, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, presided over the exercises. An invocation was offered by the Rev. Robert Prins, Christian Reformed pas­ tor in Paterson, N. J. Following a Scripture reading by the Rev. John Morton, Reformed Episcopal pastor in Philadel­ phia, the Rev. Robert Atwell, Orthodox Presbyterian pas­ tor in Westfield, N. J., led in prayer. After the Rev. Egbert Andrews' address, printed here­ in, President Edmund Clowney conferred twenty bachelor of divinity, and five master of theology degrees. Dr. Cor­ nelius Van Til then addressed the graduates in terms of their calling in the face of the issues of the day. United Presbyterian and Southern I Love Being a Missionary Presbyterian Churches.) The young man continued; "At this HARVIE M. CONN college I was fed on books such as this. I learned a great deal about Barth and Brunner. Then I came here." had just finished my third class Orthodox Presbyterian missionary I nodded in understanding. A pic­ I for the morning and was about to Harvie C01l7l has an effective teaching settle down to a bowl of soup for ministry in a theological seminary in ture was beginning to form now. lunch that I had snatched from the Seoul along with his evangelistic "My mind was very confused by makeshift restaurant in our dirt-floor preaching and personal witnessing in books like this when I came here. basement. In the past, I had enjoyed many places. Then I listened to your classes and eating with the students in the base­ the lectures of the other teachers. I ment, but the restaurant (not approved over David Strauss, Albert Schweitzer, did not feel free to ask questions in by Duncan Hines) had been moved to Rudolf Bultmann and the like. And I some of the classes. But I always felt that freedom in your class." a smaller room this term-and if you had never been quite sure, when it was didn't get there the first three minutes over, just who had really received the He certainly did! after bell, you just didn't get there. going over from my friend-Albert "Now I don't want this book any­ We're all delighted to have a student Schweitzer or me. He had entered the more. It has done me much harm." body of some 340 young men and seminary as a graduate of a general He thanked me for the few minutes women this term (now the largest college. And I wondered if he, like of time and left. The conversation had in all of Asia). But why do they all most college graduates in seminary, taken no more than three or four want to eat at the same time in the didn't feel himself to be several minutes. same place? notches higher than his fellows. The soup was still warm and I was The morning had been as usual a He bowed in greeting and asked if remembering a Bible verse about wit­ busy one. Apostolic History-94 stu­ he was intruding. nessing and missionaries. "Brethren, if dents. Greek Grammar--48 students. "Oh no, please sit down." Besides, any of you do err from the truth and Galatians-88 students. Lots of per­ how can you intrude on a bowl of hot one convert him; let him know, that sonal attention for everybody, of soup? he which converteth the sinner from course, with this good pupil-teacher the error of his way shall save a soul ratio! And of course a teacher so Book for Sale from death, and shall hide a multi­ gifted at the Korean language he can tude of sins." "I brought the book with me about catch the nuance of every single ques­ I love being a missionary! tion thrust at him! Questions like: which we had spoken yesterday," he "Would you say that Floyd Filson's said. views resemble those of the Tubingen "The book?" He could read my school?" "Where do Haenchen and blank stare--a perfect reflection of my DR. VAN TIL'S NEW BOOK mind at the time. "Oh yes, the book. The Confession of 1967: Conze1mann differ in their approach Background and Significance to Acts as history?" "I don't under­ You had a book you wondered if the (Presbyterian and Reformed, 1967, stand you when you say that Bultmann seminary library might not be inter­ 128 pp. $2.50) does not do justice to the task of the ested in buying from you." may be ordered from apostle as conveyer, rather than cre­ "That's right. I brought it with me GREAT COMMISSION PUBLICATIONS ator." "My teacher last hour taught today." 7401 Old York Road me something quite different. Does He handed it over to me. It was an Phila., Pa. 19126 Pak Yune Sun teach this way also?" English edition of Emil Brunner's "How can all this help me in preach- work, The Divine Imperative. WANTED TO BUY mg.. ;>" Machen, The Christian View of Man, We didn't have the book in our Rian, The Presbyterian Conflict. seminary library and I knew it would Requests for these books (now out Interview be useful as reference material for of print) have come in. If you have The door to the little office shook advanced work. The price was settled one to sell, write to the Guardian with a quiet rap and I acknowledged on and paid. office, naming the price. the request. "Please enter." My bowl "This book did me much harm," of ~ot soup was about to be forgotten he said. DID YOU KNOW agalll. "I don't understand," I replied. • that evangelization is the most wonderful work in the world ? A second-year student entered. He "Did you know that I graduated • that our school specializes in was not one of my favorites, to say the from Soongsil College?" (For the training young people to serve least. Last semester, in Gospel His­ benefit of our Western readers, Soong­ Christ in his ch urch and mission? tory, he had driven me crazy every sil College is an institution now be­ Write Today! class hour with some question or chal­ longing to the Korean Presbyterian Dr. Dick L. Van Halsema, President REFORMED BIBLE INSTITUTE lenge of the subject materal. We had Church, Tonghap group, associated 1869 Robinson Road, S. E. spent a semester together already going closely with the missionaries of the Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506

The Presbyterian Guardian is published monthly (except combined in July-August) by the Presbyterian Guardian Publishing Corp., 7401 Old York Rd., Phila., Pa. 19126, at the following rates, payable in advance in any part of the world, postage prepaid: $3.00 per year ($2.50 in Clubs of ten or more); $1.00 for four months; 25c per single copy. Second Class mail privileges authorized at the Post Office, Philadelphia, Pa. 74 The Presbyterian Guardian Westminster Seminary Commencement Address

Who Is Sufficient for These Things?

EGBERT W. ANDREWS

I n this climactic year when a once great have been, in a very special sense, entrusted church has officially relinquished her his­ with the gospel. It is our function so to toric standards, I am reminded of the year make Christ known, in all the fulness of his of my own graduation when the same church person and work, in all his winsome loveli­ was about to set aside those standards in ness and awesome holiness, that the fra­ practice. It was matters concerning foreign grance of his knowledge may be diffused by missions that brought the crisis to a head. us in every place. And our class of 1935,besides being famous for providing the seminary with its illus­ The result will be that some will believe trious Professor of Old Testament, became and others will not believe. To those who deeply involved in foreign missions. Five or believe on him, the knowledge of Christ is six of our number became foreign mission­ like a vivifying smell, ending in life. To the aries-four of whom are still serving in unbelievers, the knowledge of Christ is like other lands today. the smell of death, ending in death if they continue in unbelief. "He that believeth on In his second letter to the Corinthians the Son hath everlasting life: and he that (chapters two and three) Paul describes believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the function, the results, the frame of mind, the wrath of God abideth on him" (John and the manner of his activity as a captive 3:36). servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because Christ had triumphed over him, he also par­ This, of course, is only so as Christ is ticipated in the triumph of Jesus Christ. preached as he is set forth in the Scriptures. It is not so on any Barthian reconstruc­ AN ODOR OF LIFE - OR OF DEATH tion. According to Barth, all men are elect When a victorious Roman general re­ for all men are in Christ and Christ is the turned from the wars, he paraded in trium­ elected man. Jesus Christ has accepted the phal procession through the city streets. In grace of God in our place. It was Jesus honor of his victory sweet odors from the Christ, alone true man, who alone was re­ burning of spices and the fragrance of jected by God. For Barth therefore no one flowers strewn in the streets pervaded the will finally perish; all will finally be saved. air. We are told (by Plutarch) that the cap­ tives of greatest note followed the triumphal THE MESSAGE MISCONSTRUED chariot in chains, and that some of them SO in Taiwan, where I come from and had their lives granted to them. Others were where Barth has not a few followers among put to death immediately after the proces­ the nationals, it is often announced at street sion ended: to such the smell of the flowers meetings to those who gather around, that and the incense was a deadly smell, ending their sins have already been forgiven and in their death. But to those captives who that all they need to do is to accept forgive­ had had their lives spared, this was a vivify­ ness and salvation as the free gift of God. ing and refreshing smell, which ended in This makes it sound as if salvation could be life. had almost automatically. Evangelism, then, consists of informing people that they have We as Christians are all captive servants already been saved, and of trying to per­ of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is my thought suade them to accept that notion. On this that all graduates of Westminster Seminary construction, men no longer say, "He that

June-July, 1967 75 believeth and is baptized shall be To the extent that a man considers himself seli-suijicient, saved; and he that believeth not shall be damned." to that extent he will whittle down the Word of God. Those who undertake to proclaim Christ as he is offered in the Scrip­ tures will find that evangelism is no such facile task as described above. harsh machinery of social engineering age." Because of its technological pow­ As we earnestly seek to set before -have refused the only consistent er and universal secularity the modern men the way of life and the way of course: personal and collective re­ world has reached maturity. Now, so death, we shall see that there are pentance. The church is spurned be­ it is said, it no longer needs God to often few indeed that enter the way cause it is considered to have failed solve its problems and "fill the gaps." of life, whereas there are many that in its function in society. Like salt Modern man feels quite able to get go down the broad road that leads to that has lost its savor it is cast out along without God in the management destruction. Whether in the East or and trodden under foot of men. of his external life. West, we shall meet up with the "re­ This all sounds very plausible, but Revolt also in Asia it has ignored the basic fact that in ligionless man"- the man who claims Not only does Christianity go un­ that the message we preach is irrele­ God, the almighty Creator and Sustain­ heeded and contemned in our own er of the universe, we as men live and vant to his life, that it has no mean­ country and elsewhere in the West; ing for him. move and have our being. The pas­ it also goes unheeded on the other sive apathy or the aggressive activity Let us take a look first as our own side of the Pacific. Asia is also in erstwhile 'Christian' America. While of the youth of our time are tokens revolt. It is a revolt against the of an underlying restlessness. August­ there is much religiosity on every hand, paternalism of the West, and the re­ we must confess that a great number ine's insight that God has made us volt has two aspects: First, the people for himself and man's heart is restless of our people are practical atheists. It of Asia have noted in our lands the is commonplace that the mind of mod­ until it rests in him is still relevant. rapid spread of secularist-materialism Restlessness may be harbored behind a ern man has been secularized. It has which finds no necessity for God. been deprived of any orientation to­ facade of audacious human self-confi­ Among the Dead Sea scrolls there is dence, but the facade will fall. ward the supernatural. The fruits of a text which renders Habakkuk 1: 11 this condition are immorality and as follows, "This man makes his The Creator Forgotten crime run rampant. We have been strength his God." Man has always The apostle Paul also met up with back in this country barely two months tended towards such self-sufficiency. those who rejected the gospel in his and we have often been asked our im­ Adam and Eve fell for the idea in the day. Impressed with the momentous­ pressions. Never, on any previous re­ Garden of Eden. In view of the secu­ ness of the issue, burdened with the turn, have our impressions been as larism of our day the leading thinkers immensity of the task of presented vivid as this time. of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam are Christ in the full-orbed glory of his insisting that their philosophies give a person and work, and overwhelmed Fruits of Secularism better answer than does Christianity. with the awesomeness of the respons­ The first day after landing we saw Secondly, the people of Asia have ibility of making a sincere offer of the some of the thousands of "hippies" noted the paganism of so much of good news of life to dying men, he or psychedelics in the Haight-Asbury our Western life-the unrestrained cried out, "Who is sufficient for district of San Francisco, with their sexual paganism which they have wit­ these things?" The answer, of course, strange attire and anachronistic hair­ nessed in our representatives among is that no one in all the world is suf­ dos. We learned that most of them them (e.g. in our service men in ficient for such things. No frail and had achieved a state of 'mindlessness' Taiwan and other places) and in fallible mortal is to the slightest de­ induced by drugs. The next day, in Western films and magazines, in sad gree adequate when charged with so a gathering of men whose meetings contrast with the restraint they them­ stupendous a responsibility. have hitherto invariably been charac­ selves practice. But there are those in this day, as in terized by programs of a high cul­ So, whether in the West or in the Paul's day, who do feel sufficient for tural and moral tone, there was hardly East, the message of Christianity is be­ these things. Seeking to make a mean­ a speech that did not carry boastful ing treated as irrelevant. This has been ingful contact with people in matters reference to marital infidelity. And described by modern theologians as religious, they corrupt or whittle down then, as if to emphasize that crime is due to the world having "come of the Word of God. Or, to use a term still rife in America, in Chicago on that more nearly approaches the Greek the fourth day after our arrival, there This address (slightly condensed original, they go about hawking or occurred the one thousand and third here) by Orthodox Presbyterian mis­ peddling the Word of God, cheapen­ gang slaying in that city. sionary Andrews was delivered in May ing and degrading the message by the Then there are the "be-ins" and at Westminster's 38th annual com­ furtive admixture of foreign elements the mass protests of youth in revolt. mencement exercises. Ever since his -much as a dishonest pharmacist This revolt against authority and es­ graduation from the seminary in 1935 might dilute medicine, by mixing it up tablished order, whether in its passive Mr. Andrews has served first on the with other liquids which weaken it, or active form, has been called a re­ China mainland and more recently on prevent its efficacy, or even render it volt against the hypocrisy of society Taiwan (with an interval as a trans­ poisonous. Such corrupters of the and its leaders, who-faced with a lator during the war years). He re­ gospel seek only to gain their ends, nuclear holocaust or possibly the sub­ ceived his Th.M. from Westminster regardless of the effect on others and jection of the entire human race to the in 1944. careless of the momentous issues in-

76 The Presbyterian Guardian valved. Self-interest governs their out­ look; accordingly they are unconscious of any sense of insufficiency for the task they profess. Nor do they hesi­ tate to offer this dangerous concoc­ tion to the all too gullible members of the church. Declarations of Independence To the extent that a man considers himself self-sufficient, to that extent he will whittle down the Word of God. This was the original sin of Eve. She considered herself self-sufficient, able to decide whether or not God's Word was true. The wheel has now turned full cycle. The death-of-God theologians are the most self-sufficient of all: they think they can do without God altogether. But any midway pos­ ition is the same in principle. If there is any denial of the sufficiency of Members of the faculty listen to Mr. Andrews' address. God's Word (the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments) as the only most influential leaders believe that elation has ceased to be a meaningful infallible rule of faith and practice, each generation of theologians must at­ reality for them. There is nothing new there is to that degree a declaration on tempt to give an account of the truth under the sun. The situation has al­ the part of man of his independence of their faith in the language and ready begun to change, but the direct of God, his autonomy. If we use any thought-forms of their time. and decisive encounter of Jesus Christ external criterion to judge the truth of In Taiwan we have the concept of with Eastern religions has not yet tak­ God's Word or accept any man-made incarnating the gospel. The mission of en place. Jesus Christ, says this theo­ opinion or human philosophy that the church, say these leaders, is no logian, shows us the God who comes contradicts it, we thereby declare our longer that of converting the heathen, all the way to the East, in the Being self-sufficiency. primitive and pitiable, but the act­ and Act of his own Son, not to con­ Over on the other side of the Pacif­ Ing out of God's love among the chil­ demn Eastern culture but to judge and ic, on the island of Taiwan, church dren of men. Writing on .'The Role redeem it. leaders also tend to adulterate the of Christology in the Christian En­ gospel. They think they will thus be counter with Eastern Religions," the Formosa Presbyterian Crisis able to enter into dialogue with the leading representative of this point of The above are the words of the people of their time and situation. Like view says that God in Christ, reconcil­ principal of the largest and most in­ the framers of the Confession of ing the world to himself, is the act of fluential theological seminary on Tai­ 1967 they are followers of Kant rather God's redemption, realized and actual­ wan. This brilliant and high-principled than of Calvin. From Kant recent phil­ ized in the "becoming" and "dwell­ man, when first invited to teach theo­ osophers and theologians have learned ing" of the Word among men. Christ's logy a number of years ago, declined that man's conceptual knowledge is supernatural Being is in his Act and on the double grounds that theology limited to the impersonal world of his Act is in his Being. The Being and is today too much influenced by West­ science and does not apply to the relig­ Act of Jesus Christ becomes in the ern philosophy and that he desired to ious dimension. Thus, the leading communion of incarnating Love the develop a truly Biblical theology which theologians of the Presbyterian Church Subject as well as the Object of the would speak to the Orient. of Taiwan tell us that "the Bible is not historical faith of Christianity, and is I urged him to enroll in the one a book consisting of a series of sys­ the first Christological principle of this seminary I know _. Westminster ­ tematic doctrines." For them there is new theology. that would have been able to help him no faith once for all delivered to the The writer goes on to say that this is achieve his aim. For example, the saints. something utterly strange to many re­ Department of Apologetics seeks rig­ ligions in the East. The latter are not orously to exclude every accretion of False Relevance endowed with such a vital religious pagan philosophy from Christian They believe that new situations re­ center, from which proceeds spontane­ thought. The Department of System­ quire new confessions. But unlike the ously and creatively the ever fresh and atic Theology endeavors to derive all leaders of the United Presbyterian new revelation of God, in the light of of its doctrines by a painstaking and Church they do not believe in con­ which man is constantly brought face exact exegesis of the Scriptures with­ fessional documents. Although the to face with new realities about God, out reading any man-made system in­ church has a history of one hundred man, and the world. There is no re­ to them. To my warning concerning years on Taiwan, until the present day velation or revealer behind Buddha's the hazards of receiving his basic theo­ it has no other confessional docu­ experience of Enlightenment under the logical education in a liberal seminary, ments than the Apostles' and Nicene Bodhi tree. This is also true of other he has repeatedly said that he would Creeds. This is because some of its religions of the East. That is why rev- always be for the truth. It has turned

June-July, 1967 77 Our sufficiency is of the omnipotent God. of Christ. Hence Paul's determination to know nothing save Christ and him cr,ucified.. The reconciling act of God rn Chnst, far from being a out, however, that he is not for the ed was the very Word of God. Paul "truth which remains beyond the reach truth of God forever settled in the also. ass~rts. that all Scripture is given of all theory in the depths of God's heavens and recorded for us in the by inspiration of God and that it is love for man," is an act that occurred Bible, but for the truth that man profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for in time and, as the hymn puts it, on ~ormulates as a response to revelation correction, for instruction in righteous­ a green hill outside a city wall: rn every concrete situation. ness. He determined to know nothing There was no other good enough Please pardon this dialectic digres­ but Jesus Christ and him crucified, To pay the price of sin; sion and the personal references. I but at the same time he did not shun He only could unlock the gate to declare the whole counsel of God. Of heaven and let us in. simply want you to know that there He died that we might be forgiven, is a crisis in the Presbyterian Church Sufficiency of Scripture He died to make us good, of Formosa very much like the one we This is because "the whole counsel That we might go at last to heaven have here. Over there also men manip­ Saved by his precious blood. ' of God, concerning all things necessary The gospel, as set forth in this ulate the Word of God in order to for his own glory, man's salvation, produce the new confessions which hymn, is the power of God unto salva­ faith, and life, is either expressly set tion to everyone that believeth. they say new situations require. down in Scripture, or by good and Is it sufficient, then, merely to go necessary consequence may be deduced Westminster's Qualifications through the motions of preaching this from Scripture: unto which nothing is ~or to be added, whether by new revela­ gospel? No, without the accornp­ The apostle Paul, for all his con­ anYlllg operation of the Holy Spirit sciousness of being inadequate for his tions of the Spirit or traditions of men" (W.C.F. 1.6). This is the high preaching is of no avail. It was Paul task, nevertheless did not use this as himself who told the Corinthians that a pretext to shirk his responsibility to doctrine of the sufficiency of Scrip­ ture, and with it stands or falls all of he did not come to them "with excel­ preach the gospel. He said that necess­ lency of speech or of wisdom, but in ity was laid upon him and he cried, Christian theology. demonst:atio~ Man, the creature of the mighty of the Spirit and power, "Woe is me if I preach not the that their faith should not stand in gospel." I have always thought that Creator and Upholder of all things, is responsible to God. He has sinned and the wisdom of men, but in the power Westminster men are in a special de­ of God." Recognizing our own utter gree qualified to bring the gospel to must therefore answer to God at the Judgment. Christ, the spotless Son of insufficiency for these things, does it the intellectuals of China, the leaders not then behoove us to seek a greater of that nation who have in the past God, has intervened and has made satisfaction to God by his life and measure of the Spirit, to the end the been sorely neglected. My opinion is gospel shall not come to men in word due, firstly, to one of the character­ by his death upon the cross. The whole istics of the Seminary-the conviction of the gospel centers around the cross (concluded on page 81) !hat the Christian religion requires and IS capable of scholarly exposition and defense. Secondly, for a society that looks upon Christianity as exclusively other worldly and irrelevant to every­ day practical life, the gospel as set forth at Westminster has implications for all of life. Thirdly, the Chinese have been suspicious of Christianity as but a TWO GENERATIONS tool of cultural aggression-a domina­ tion of thought and life effected by The Rev. Robert political privilege and the use of fI­ Moody Holmes, '35, nances. Westminster graduates, for the Florida pastor, most part, are in a position to come congratulates his with the offer of the gospel alone, son, Robert Machen unencumbered by Western financial or Holmes, on his philosophical accretions. So we say to graduation from you who are about to graduate, "Come Westminster, 1967. over and help us." In answer to his own question, "Who is sufficient for these things ?, Paul said that his sufficiency was of God, the all-sufficient One. Our suf­ ficiency also is of the omnipotent God. Because .h~ is omnipotent he, by his Holy Spirit, so moved on the writers of Holy Writ that what they record-

78 The Presbyterian Guardian Garden Grove, Calif. May 8, 1967 April 13, 1967 Dear Mr. Hannah: David R. Hannah, Coordinator rying to serve two masters, the American Athletes in Action T Pasadena Junior Chamber of Com­ Dear Mr. Hannah: merce and the Lord of the Sabbath, is he cool disregard of the Lord's obviously impossible. But still, you TDay by athletes presumed to be have no true reason to say, "We have able to give a Christian testimony is no choice in the matter. " To obey is most offensive. Isaiah 58: 13-14 has better. EDITOR not been erased from Scripture. The Riding a secular vehicle to do some­ ROBERT E. NICHOLAS day may seem to be helpless before thing else is not likely to endear you ,j your advancing tread, but it still says, either to the godly or the ungodly. "Don't tread on me." The Lord has told us that he does not All correspondence should be ad­ It was at the Paris Olympics that take pleasure in the legs of a man, es­ dressed to The Presbyterian Guardian, Eric Lidell refused to run on the pecially if those legs trample the 7401 Old York Road, Phila., Pa. 19126 Lord's Day. His testimony has entered Lord's Day. I mentioned Isaiah 58:13­ the illustration books as an example of 14, and you spoke of this as "my con­ how the Lord honors those who honor cern for the Lord's Day." But are you Letter Exchange him. The race was postponed, and not concerned for it? Lidell went on to win it. Opening a career of professional des­ The following announcement was The righteousness of the law is to ecration of this day to many young ath­ widely circulated in Southern California be fulfilled in us, who walk not after letes is a solemn charge which may be this spring by a group known as Amer­ the flesh, but after the Spirit. Sin re­ laid against you in the Day of Christ. ican Coaches & Athletes in Action­ mains defined according to law, and Are you willing to risk this? For if you the athletic division of Campus Cru­ the moral law is summarily compre­ break one of the least of these com­ sade for Christ: hended in the ten commandments. His mandments and teach men so, is there ARE YOUR CHURCH ,MEMBERS commandments are not grievous. His not a penalty? You should tremble at INTERESTED IN ATHLETICS? DO yoke is easy. But it is a commandment, the thought. Kipling said that east of YOUR YOUTH WANT AN EX­ and it is a yoke. Suez "there ain't no ten command­ CITING NEW PROGRAM? ARE I therefore plead with you not to ments." Perhaps north of San Bernar­ YOUR CHURCH LAYMEN LOOK­ knock yourselves out as Christians by dino and northwest of Pasadena "there ING FOR OPPORTUNITIES TO undercutting your own testimony of ain't no ten commandments." But Paul REACH THE UNCHURCHD? the gospel of the grace of God. Sched­ would protest: "Do we then make void ule the meet on aonther day of the the law through faith? God forbid. The Rose Bowl Invitational Track week. Yea, we establish the law" (Romans Meet-the world's first track meet Sincerely yours, 3: 31). The Christian athlete should with an evangelistic thrust-may be EDWARDS E. ELLIOTT learn the rule book, for he is not the answer. ** * crowned unless he strive lawfully (II This event will feature many of Arrowhead Springs, Calif. Timothy 2:5). the greatest track and field stars, in­ May 3, 1967 EDWARDS E. ELLIOTT cluding Ralph Boston, world record Edwards E. Elliott, Pastor holder in the long jump; Bob Seagren, Orthodox Presbyterian Church * * * world champion pole vaulter; and Dear Reverend Elliott: New Addresses many others. The last event will fea­ hank you for your answer to our Rev. James L. Bosgraf, 6951 Han­ ture three track and field stars who TRose Bowl Invitational Track Meet over St., Hanover Park, Ill. 60103 (or­ will share with the spectators their letter. I am sorry that your church will dained by the Presbytery of Wise.) . life-changing faith in Jesus Christ. be unable to participate in this unique Rev. Henry W. Coray, 333 Cherry Those who want to know more about track meet. Lane, Glenside, Pa. 19038. the Christian life will be given the I appreciate your concern for the Rev. Richard L. Horner, 59 Berke­ opportunity to stay after the meet and Lord's Day, but we have no choice ley St., Cranston, R. I. 02910 (ordained talk with trained counselors from in this matter. The track meet is by the Presbytery of New York and churches in the Southern California sponsored by the Pasadena Junior New England). area. Chamber of Commerce and this was Rev. D. Robert Lindberg, 7820 N.E. The Rose Bowl Invitational Track the only date that the AAU would 195th St., Bothell, Wash. 98011. Meet will be held Sunday, June 4, approve. From our standpoint, the Rev. Maurice I. Riedesel, 1954 E. 1968 from 1:30 to 5:00 p.m. Ameri­ track meet will be conducted on Sun­ 35th Pl., Tulsa, Okla. 74105. can Athletes in Action, a division of day whether we participate or not, but Rev. Robert D. Sander, 521 Lincoln, Campus Crusade for Christ, is work­ we felt that this exciting opportunity Winner, S. D. 57580. ing with the Pasadena Junior Chamber to share the claims of Jesus Christ Rev. Laurence C. Sibley, Jr., 20016 of Commerce to bring you this new would make this an exciting Lord's Kings Highway, Warrensville Hts., type of track meet. Day for many people who probably Ohio 44122. If you would like more information would never attend church. Rev. Bernard J. Stonehouse, 2 Hun­ as to how your church can participate Warmest personal regards. ton Pl., Auburn, Maine 04210. in this unique new evangelistic oppor­ Yours in Christ, Rev. Robert G. Valentine, P. O. Box tunity, please . . . DAVID R. HANNAH 702, Greenville, Tenn. 37743.

June-July, 1967 79 Captain with the Mighty Heart

HENRY W. CORAY

Chapter 4 THE SCHOLAR (2)

n 1923 Dr. Machen's Christianity with the view that the Bible is an In­ Pacific Unitarian magazine (June-July, l' I and Liberalism burst like a thun­ errant objective revelation of God. 1923): .- derbolt on the theological world. The Finally, Machen concluded, liberal­ Dr. Machen's arguments are irrefut­ very title came as a shocker. Its im­ ism's idea of the church, featuring as able. His logic, it seems to us, is impec­ plication was lost on no one who it does a disregard for doctrinal purity, cable. The issue does exist and confront could tell his right hand from his left. us. For the first time he has done us the a passion for ecclesiastical union at al­ great service of putting it in a clear-cut The contents of the book were as most any cost, the substitution of a and definite form, You must either be a bold and definitive as the title. For social gospel for the message of salva­ believer or an unbeliever, an evangelical tion-this too is weighed in the bal­ or a liberal, you cannot be both at the years militant evangelicals had been same time. Our judgment is that Dr. locked in conflict with liberalism. Pop­ ances of a reverent scholarship and Machen puts the liberal party within the ularized by Dr. Harry Emerson Fos­ found wanting. Modernism, in fine, evangelical church where it has not a dick, modernism had picked up all should be regarded as a stricture from sound leg to stand on. sorts of momentum. Suddenly evan­ that body of historically attested truth Tribute to his Argument gelicals awoke to discover that a known as Christianity. In his A Preface to Morals (The scholar of no mean ability was assum­ Lest the reader of the above analysis Macmillan Company, New York, ing the offensive for their cause. Chris­ of the book think that Machen's treat­ 1929) Walter Lippman, certainly no tianity and Liberalism marked the be­ ment of such an explosive theme champion of historic Christianity, had ginning of a counterattack that was to stamps him as a bitter, abrasive fighter, this to say: put the liberal wing of the church very let this paragraph cast the author in much on the defensive. proper prospective: There is also a reasoned case against the modernists. Fortunately this case has Machen's thesis: the God proclaimed If the Word of God be heeded, the been stated in a little book called Chris­ Christian battle will be fought both by the liberal, as distinguished from tianity and Liberalism by a man who is with love and with faithfulness. Party both a gentleman and a scholar. The the living and holy God of the Bible, passions and personal animosities will author is Professor .T. Gresham Machen is simply part of the mighty world be put away, but on the other hand, of Princeton Theological Seminary. It is even angels from heaven will be re­ an admirable book. For its acumen, for process. Modernism, "if not consis­ jected if they preach a gospel different tently pantheistic, is at any rate pan­ its saliency, for its wit, this cool stringent from the blessed gospel of the Cross. defense of orthodox Protestantism is, I theizing." The Jesus of liberal recon­ Every man must decide upon which think, the best popular argument pro­ struction, said Machen, is not the su­ side he will stand. God grant that we duced by either side in the current con­ pernatural Redeemer set forth in the may decide aright! troversy. We shall do well to listen to Bible as the object of faith, but rather Evaluation of his Writing Dr. Machen. he is to be understood and accepted What kind of reception was the From still another quarter came a as the pattern of faith - that is, men book accorded? Most evangelicals re­ glowing tribute. Volatile and colorful ought to exercise the same quality of joiced in the clear and penetrating re­ writer H. L. Mencken, on ventilating faith in God that Jesus exercised. "The view of the struggle that for years had his opinions in The Forum and Cen­ liberal Jesus remains a manufactured convulsed Protestanism. Liberals were tury (March 31, 1930), said: figure of the stage." badly upset. The Princeton theologian Dr. Machen is no mere soap-box orator had thrown a stone in the wasps' nest; of God, alarming bucolic sinners for a Modernism's False Concepts percentage of the plate. On the contrary, the wasps swarmed out, stinging mad. he is a man of great learning and dignity Modernism's rosy estimate of human The inevitable middle-of-the-readers, -a former student at European univer­ nature with its infinite capacity for fearful lest the ecclesiastical waters be sities, the author of various valuable disturbed, deplored Machen's crisp books, including a Greek grammar, and good, Machen argued, cuts jaggedly a member of several societies of savants across the Biblical doctrine of innate drawing of lines and engaged in vio­ ...I confess that as a life-long fan of depravity. Moreover, its concept of a lent hand-wringing as they retired to theology, I can find no defect in his de­ meritorious salvation grounded on the wailing wall. fence of his position. Is Christianity actually a revealed religion? If not, then good works represents the sharpest It is ironical that the consistent lib­ it is nothing; if so, then we must accept kind of cleavage with the concept of eral, the Unitarian, was lavish in his the Bible as an inspired statement of its a gracious deliverance effected by praise of the incision. Enthused the principles ... If Christianity is really true, as he believes, and if the Bible Jesus Christ, who by virtue of his is true, then it is true from cover to obedience, vicarious death, and physi­ Mr. Coray, missionary, long-time cover. So answering, he defies the hosts cal resurrection won for his people a pastor on the West Coast, and author of Beelzebub to shake him. As I have complete redemption. The authority of several books, is the pastor-elect of hinted, I think that, given his faith, his position is completely impregnable. There set forth by the liberals, resting on the Calvary Orthodox Presbyterian Church, is absolutely no flaw in the argument with shifting sands of subjectivism, breaks Glenside, Pennsylvania. which he supports it., If he is wrong, then 80 The Presbyterian Guardian the science of logic is hollow vanity, sig­ the church's belief in it. The last third Christ, although I recall it was some nifying nothing. is devoted to a consideration of the time ago ... It is impossible to say how many attempt to trace the doctrine either to His response is comparable to the men of liberal persuasion have been Jewish or to pagan origins. story of the flier who for some time influenced by Christianity and Liber­ circled the Himalayas for a sight of alism. Whether the experience of the Book on the Virgin Birth those mighty mountain peaks. Later, Rev. Homer Grimes has been dupli­ Anyone who has studied the evi­ when asked if he had seen Mt. Everest, cated in other instances I do not know. dence marshaled by the investigator he said, "I'm pretty sure I did but it I can vouch for the veracity of the will never accuse Machen of shallow was some time ago so I can't be sure." following incident. or superficial craftsmanship. His study Mr. Grimes, former pastor of the represents massive scholarship, no less. First Baptist Church of Redondo Andrews Here you have historical research of (from page 78) Beach, California, is now engaged, I the most exhaustive kind, an analysis think, in evangelistic work. One eve­ that makes the "form criticism" of only, but that it might be accompani­ ning I heard him speak at a banquet J. Weiss, Bultmann, Albertz, and ed by the power of the Spirit and be in a hotel in Hollywood. I was im­ Bertram appear as ineffectual as Goli­ received with great joy! pressed with his evangelical fervor. ath's armor. Indispensable Holy Spirit When the affair was over I went to him, introduced myself, and said, "Mr. Soon after The Virgin Birth was re­ Nor is it sufficient merely to preach Grimes, I have heard that you were leased I talked with a student from and leave the results in the hands of once a liberal and were converted as Union Theological Seminary in New our sovereign God. Indeed not. Calvin, a result of reading Dr. Machen's York City. He told me that Dr. Fos­ in commenting on the words of our Christianity and Liberalism. May I ask dick, in one of his lectures at the text, enjoins us to distinguish between if it's true?" seminary, admitted to his class that, "the proper office of the gospel," granted Machen's presuppositions, you which is the proclamation of salvation His Influence had to go with him all the way; that to all who believe, and its "accidental" "Yes, it is true," he said. "I was a his reasoning was foolproof. "The office, whereby, through their own committed modernist. One day I hap­ only thing is," Fosdick was quoted as fault, it becomes an occasion of con­ pened to be browsing in a bookstore saying, "I cannot start out with him." demnation to unbelievers. Our purpose in New York City and came across My answer to the Union student in proclaiming the gospel is that men the book. When I read the title I got was, "What Dr. Fosdick overlooks is might believe and be saved. We are mad. Then I thought, Well, maybe the scientific method Machen uses to ambassadors for Christ, pleading with I ought to find out what the man has establish his point." men to be reconciled to God. To to say before I condemn him. So I Upon the publication of The Virgin that end we should pray. bought his book and read it at one Birth tributes flowed in from far and But is the salvation of men the all­ sitting. It changed not only my think­ near. Of them all probably none consuming desire of our hearts? Do ing but my whole life." warmed the soul of the author more we agonize to that end? With Paul do In 1930 Machen's opus magnum than that tendered by his mother. She we travail in birth until Christ be was published. He titled it The Virgin said: formed in our hearers? And do we Birth of Christ and dedicated it to his I think you have written an exhaustive then with broken hearts commit the mother. treatise, and I cannot think there is much outcome to our sovereign Lord? Who, In the Introduction he explains that more for anybody to say on the subject. indeed, is sufficient for these things! You have throughout been fair and cour­ Our sufficiency is only of God who it has been the universal belief of the teous to your opponents even while prob­ Christian church that Jesus of Naza­ ing their fallacies. I am not able tonight has made us able ministers of the New reth was born without a human father, to tell you how the beautiful and lumi­ Testament. having been conceived by the Holy nous passages of your precious book have And whether those who immediate­ Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. stirred your Mother's heart. ly believe are many or few, God Two possibilities are advanced to ac­ Of is own work he merely said in always leads us in every place in count for this belief, he says: either Christianity in Conflict: triumph in Christ. Weare more than the church came to accept the doctrine Whether it is a good book is a ques­ conquerors through him that loved. us. tion which I shall not presume to an­ fa~th­ because it is true, or the church came swer, but no one can deny that it is a Empowered by his Spirit, we are to accept it because of some error. In big one. ful and effective witnesses to him. general, scholars who hold the latter The name of Bishop James A. Pike And we have the assurance that "He view are in turn divided into two is familiar to all Americans. Pike is shall see of the travail of his soul and classes. One class seeks to show that famous for his homogenized theology be satisfied." A great multitude, which the supernatural conception of Jesus and his freewheeling thoughts on no man can number, of all nations and has its roots in Jewish sources; the modern morality. He has repeatedly people and tongues, shall stand before other argues that the story of the vir­ and openly repudiated the doctrine of the throne: gin birth is of pagan derivation. Hav­ the virgin birth of our Lord. Impressed Ten thousand times ten thousand, ing posed the issue, Machen then pro­ with the superficial way he brushes In sparkling raiment bright, ceeds to engage in his investigation The armies of the ransomed saints off the tenet, I wrote him and asked Throng up the steeps of light. of the diverse positions. if he had ever read Dr. Machen's con­ In that last grand parade we shall The first two-thirds of the book tribution to the subject. In reply he hear his "Well done," and we shall add up to a case for the trustworthi­ wrote: give thanks to God that we have fol­ ness of the Biblical account of the I am fairly sure I have read Dr. miraculous birth and a vindication of Machen's book, The Virgin Birth of lowed in his train.

June-July, 1967 81 J Westminster's New Testament Department Hitherto Hath the Lord Helped Us

JOHN H. SKILTON

he distinguished scholars who The members of the New Testa­ tory course in New Testament Exegesis. Tserved in the New Testament de­ ment staff have all received training To this course he can bring his first­ partment of Westminster Seminary un­ under Dr. Stonehouse and some of hand knowledge of the method of til they were called from this life con­ them under Dr. Machen as well. The exegesis taught and practiced by Dr. tinue to help in our work today. Dr. Rev. Fred C. Kuehner, Th.D., D.D., Machen. Machen and Dr. Stonehouse in a dean of the Theological Seminary of genuine sense are still with us. Their the Reformed Episcopal Church and The New Generation witness in our midst has not been professor of Biblical Languages there, The Rev. Richard B. Gaffin, Jr., who forgotten. Views and objectives which who has been helping us ever since holds both the B.D. and Th.M. de­ they held and methods which they Dr. Stonehouse's death, took graduate grees from Westminster, has been employed are still remembered. And work under Dr. Stonehouse and was serving for the past two years as In­ their influence is constantly being felt awarded a Th.M. degree by West­ structor in New Testament. Mr. Gaffin and continued through their writings. minster. He is a graduate of the Uni­ is a graduate of Calvin College and versity of Pennsylvania and of the has done graduate work at Westmin­ The influence of Dr. Stonehouse is Theological Seminary of the Reformed ster and at the University of Gottingen being further extended and the Semi­ Episcopal Church, and received his in Germany. He is now completing his nary and the New Testament depart­ Th.D. degree from Eastern Baptist doctoral studies. He has done much ment benefited through the Stonehouse Theological Seminary. He has had graduate work abroad in the field of Memorial Fund for Graduate Study in much teaching, pastoral, and editorial New Testament, but has given major the New Testament and the Ned B. experience. Despite his heavy duties emphasis in his graduate program to Stonehouse New Testament Seminar elsewhere, Dr. Kuehner has been teach­ Systematic Theology. As a consequence Collection. The Stonehouse Memorial ing some graduate courses for us and he is able to bring a highly desirable Fund has as its purpose the granting has been helping with the supervision theological competence to his work in from time to time of fellowships for of master's theses and doctoral dis­ the New Testament field. Among the graduate study in the field of New sertations. courses which he is teaching are those Testament to young men who give in New Testament Biblical Theology promise of scholarly achievement. One The Rev. Leslie W. Sloat, who spe­ and New Testament Canon. of the most encouraging signs for cialized in New Testament under Pro­ New Testament studies do not exist Biblical studies in the future is to be fessors Machen and Stonehouse, has in isolation from the other disciplines found in the number and the ability of been teaching a number of courses of the theological curriculum, and it the young men who are preparing in New Testament Greek. He is a is necessary for us at times to seek the themselves for advanced work in this graduate of Princeton University, and assistance of men skilled in those other area. It is to be hoped that the Stone­ received his Th.B. and Th.M. degrees fields. Professors in other departments house Fund will continue to grow and from Westminster Seminary. Like Dr. of the Seminary have visited sessions that it will be able to contribute very Kuehner, he has a rich background of of our New Testament courses and significantly in the future to the prep­ experience which is of benefit to our have helped us to understand the bear­ aration of men for scholarly work of students. He has served in the pas­ ing of their studies on our own. In the the highest order. torate, as librarian at Westminster, as current academic year Professors Van managing editor and editor of the Til, Young, and Knudsen have gen­ Dr. Stonehouse's Influence Presbyterian Guardian, and in impor­ erously participated in one or more An important aid to present stu­ tant administrative capacities. At pres­ of our courses. Dr. Knudsen in addi­ dents is the seminar collection of vol­ ent he is our Dean of Students and tion offered an apologetics seminar on umes from Dr. Stonehouse's library Registrar. In the coming academic year Bultmann, in which the New Testa­ which Mrs. Stonehouse has given to he is scheduled to teach not only ment department cooperated. the Seminary. Furthermore, during the Greek courses, but also the introduc- past year Mrs. Stonehouse has been Librarian's Assistance going over Dr. Stonehouse's papers, Our librarian, the Rev. Arthur W. including most of the notes which he The Rev. John H. Skilton, A.M., Kuschke, Jr., has given us extensive used for his class lectures and the Th.B., Ph.D., is Professor of New help. He has conducted meetings of manuscripts of his books, and she Testament at Westminster Seminary. graduate courses dealing with biblio­ plans to make them available to our A student under both Dr. Machen and graphical matters and has participated Library. They will constitute an im­ Dr. Stonehouse, he was graduated in sessions of the undergraduate course portant research tool, and should make from seminary in 1933. After a pas­ on New Testament Introduction. Last it possible to recover and utilize many torate in Maine he joined Westmin­ year he attended every session of a of Professor Stonehouse's insights. ster's faculty in 1939. course which dealt with bibliography

82 The Presbyterian Guardian Professor Skilton in class at Westminster Seminary. and research in the New Testament field. Although Mr. Kuschke's services naturally belong to all departments, School Days in Japan and all can claim him, he is a wel­ come and active participant in the DEAR Boys AND GIRLS: you understand and know how to work of the New Testament depart­ ur five girls attend the Sendai work them. You need lots of prac­ ment, is invited to our departmental O American School and they have tice with every type of problem. meetings, and takes part in the ex­ this to say about it: What's your favorite subject?" amination of our graduate students. Faith - "Our school has two rooms All at once - "Recess l!" The recent academic year opened and an office in an old building of Mother - "And what do you do at in a memorable way for the New a Mission Girls' School. We have recess?" Testament department with the visit three teachers and 21 kids in the Grace and Faith - "We play kick­ to the campus of Dr. William Hen­ school." ball and sometimes other games like driksen, formerly professor of New Ruth - "Miss Johnson is our teacher. Red-rover or Prisoners." Testament Literature at Calvin Semi­ She comes from Texas and teaches Mother - "Is there anybody also in nary and the author of well-known the 4th, 5th and 6th grades. David your school besides the teachers you commentaries on the New Testament Boatwright and I are the only ones mentioned?', and other works. Dr. Hendriksen, after in our grade" (4th). Joyce - "Mrs. Miyagi. She teaches us delivering an eloquent address at the Faith - "Timmy Bradburn and I are art and Japanese." opening exercises of the Seminary, met the only ones in our grade" (5th). Mother - "Anything else about your with members of the New Testament Hope - "Mrs. Stehr is our teacher. school?" staff and graduate students in a stimu­ She used to teach school in Illinois. Grace - "We have chapel on Mon­ lating seminar. We have 14 in our room." days and Fridays." The work of the department is fas­ Grace - "Cindy and I are the only Mother - "How do you get to your cinating and demanding. The oppor­ ones in grade two, but I'm half school ?" tunities for service and development grade three, too." All - "By bus, and we walk about in both the undergraduate and gradu­ Joyce - "There are just Doug Ingles, four blocks." ate divisions are overwhelming. We Marie Livingston and myself in my Mother - "Do you wear gettas?" realize that there is much land to be class" ( 1st). All - "No-co, of course not! We possessed and we are eager to possess Ruth - "I don't like arithmetic." wear zukoos!" (Japanese tennis it. We need the continued influence Mother - "Do you understand it?" shoes without strings). of the giants who served in the de­ Ruth - "0 yes, but there are always partment in the past, the continued too many problems." The children continue: "We learn devoted team work of members of the Faith - "That's what I say. Miss many Japanese ways, how the people present staff, and above all the con­ Johnston gives us pages and pages here live, their homes, clothes, what tinued blessing of the Lord who of homework." they eat and do. But we must go to hitherto has helped us. Mother - "Well, she has to see that school when the native children have

June-July, 1967 83 T.:r. KGnnet~ Auatin

THE PRESBYTERIAN GUARDIAN Athen~. Ge:~3i~ 3JEOl 7401 Old York Road Feb 66 6763 Philadelphia, Po. 19126 Second Class Postage Paid at Philadelphia, Po. Return Requested

holidays like Spring and Autumn Christmas program at the American Sendai School. equinox, Emperor's birthday, Consti­ tution Day. How we hate to be the only ones going to school at such times! Brother Earl said he would not look so silly. He would put his lunch and books in a knapsack instead of his sc~oolbag to 1?a~e people think he was gOing on a plCnlC. "English is spoken all day at school and in our home, so we speak very poor Japanese. We cannot go shop­ ping or places by ourselves as .we can't speak Japanese well and .we flf~d it hard to understand the native chil­ dren in Sunday school. But we love our school and our schoolmates." Father and mother pray that God will richly bless the pupils and teach­ ers and that they may honor Him in all their works. FUMI DOMOTO Sendai, Japan Or C-Did Susan deserve to be How wise it is to know our chil­ sent to her room? Quite possibly, or dren so well that we recognize which at least to have some punishment ad­ one must receive much approval and Some ABC's ministered. The thing that is wrong light restraint, and which needs the A-"Come, Jimmy, time to eat. Wash is that Susan has learned that mother firmer hand. Would that our handling your hands. Come now. Do you is long on threats and short on action. of them would assume-with that cer­ hear me?" What do these three glimpses have tain look in the eye and tone of voice B-"How many times do I have to in common besides a mother and a -that of course the child is going to tell you to keep quiet!" child? You may see something else, do what is requested! Instead we too C-"If I have to speak to you again, but our answer is that the adult either often "shoot off the big guns" on you will go to your room, as I told created the condition in the first place, minor things. you a minute ago!" or made a poor situation worse. We do All parents make mistakes of which There are many additions that can not advocate softness in handling they become aware, and others of be made to the list of admonitions that needed discipline, and we realize it is which they never become aware. In are directed to children many times a not easy to achieve a perfect blend of spite of this, if small children are not day. A busy and tired parent fre­ the necessary firmness along with the permitted to be impertinent and rude quently cannot be bothered to discover sympathy and understanding needed and to disobey at will-but are taught whether or not there might be another for each occasion. But parents have a to recognize and respect the God-given way of getting the desired results. responsibilty that goes with their ma­ authority of the home; and if they Let's take another look at the ABC's turity. feel the love and appreciation their above. Many parents look forward to the parents have for them: then gradually A-Suppose Jimmy has a castle teenage years as a time to be dreaded. rules and punishment can be reduced nearly finished in the sandbox. He Rather, it is a wonderful thing to to a minimum and more leeway in thinks it is beautiful and that mother know that the previous years have built choices may be permitted in the matur­ will be surprised. But, doesn't she up a basic friendship and mutual re­ ing years. sound upset? If only he had hurried spect and trust, so that the child would At that point one will find that a little more to finish it. . . . not want to hurt the parent knowingly, parental authority need be exercised Or consider B-"... keep quiet!" and the parent would not deliberately only when morals or safety are in­ What was John talking about? Mother humiliate the child. To handle a teen­ volved. What a wonderful satisfac­ had a headache and she really hadn't ager as a top sergeant does a recruit, tion it is to find that your children listened. It was an exciting story about with a snap of the fingers and a de­ have become your warm friends! But a nest high in the tree by the stone mand for instant obedience, will puzzle how much we need to pray to the Lord wall. There were three eggs in it, and and intimidate the gentle and non­ our Rock: "For thy name's sake, lead ... Mother didn't hear the story and, combative personality and make the me, and guide me" (Psalm 31: 3) . of course, John didn't know about the assertive and bouncy one increasingly THE PARTINGTONS headache. belligerent and hostile. in the "Hamilton Press-byterian"

84 The Presbyterian Guardian

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