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.June 15, 1955Vol. 24. No.6

'!he ~Jt:letian-GUARDIAN

God, from all eternity, did, by

the most wise and holy counsel of

His own will, freely, andunchange­

ably ordain whatsoevercomes to pass:

yet so, as thereby neither is God the

author of sin, nor is violence offered

to the will of the creature; nor is

the liberty or contingency of second

causes taken away, but rather

established.

Westminster Confession 111.1

J. Gresham Machen

Editor 1936· 1937

Published Monthly

$2.50 per year

(II

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....

Westminster GraduatesIn Varied Positions

Brief Church Notes

A NUMBER of the recent graduatesof Westminster Seminary have

received appointments.Mr. Henry Fikkert is to assist in the

work of Knox Church, Silver Spring,Md., during the summer, and in thefall will become principal of the Cam­den County Christian Day School.

Mr. Norman Hoeflinger has accepteda call to become pastor of a two­church field in Classis Eureka of theReformed Church in the U.S., in SouthDakota.

Mr. Louis Tuleja is to assist invarious of the fields in Maine duringthe summer.

Mr. Jack Peterson is to assist in thework at Fort Lauderdale, Florida, dur­ing the summer months.

Mr. Ed Urban, who still has a yearat Seminary, is to assist the Rev. CalvinK. Cummings at Covenant Church,Pittsburgh, during the summer.

Mr. Raymond Zorn was ordained tothe ministry and installed as pastorof Faith Church, Pittsgrove, N. J.shortly after Commencement.

an audience-and may not be lackingin what they love. But the hypocricyof it all is only too apparent. Can theGod of truth accept a man who callsupon him with his oratory, but with hisheart goes begging for the praise ofmen? "Forasmuch as this people drawnigh unto me, and with their mouthand with their lips do honor me, buthave removed their heart far from me,. . . therefore, behold, I will proceed to

do ~ marvelous work among this people

Our God and Our Prayers

Meditation

"After this manner therefore pray ye:Our Father who art in heaven . ..st

MAITHEW 6:9.

Everyone who believes in Godshould pray. It seems very unreasonableto have a God without ever havinganything to say to him, just as it isinconceivable that there should be aGod who would never have anything Trying to avoid this evil, some seemto say to us. to think they should plunge themselves

Most people probably do pray at into an excess of familiarity with thesome time or other in their lives. Some Almighty in their prayers. Pleading thepray a great deal. And yet not everyone intimacy of our adoption, they evenknows how to pray. Jesus found it seem to reject the elements of dignityimportant to teach his disciples how to and decency. One gets the impressionpray. that they are unable to feel at home in

The first thing he taught them about the divine presence unless their feetpraying is that they must think of the can be put on the table. Is their Godone to whom they pray. Our God will an indulgent grandmother who hasdetermine our prayers. We may say taken to heatt the licentious notions ofthat they will be "conditioned" by our "progressive" education?idea of him. To pray well we need to How simply our Lord corrects allknow God well. And prayers will be- our blundering when he tells us to saycome confused, superstitious, and vain, when we pray, "Our Father who art inthe less men know about God; the less heaven!" There is no room for idolatrythey know God. here. A relationship of persons is

Take the prayers of the heathen. stressed, calling for sentiments of re-They think they will be heard by their speer, trust, love, and obedience. Wemuch speaking. One even hears about approach one higher than ourselves,mechanical prayer wheels! To us this who begets, provides for, protects, loves,seems incredible. Can anyone stoop and governs us. Prayer is a family affair Crescent Park, N. J.: Immanuelthat low? But why not? Get yourself between a father and his children. A Church was host to 60 delegates attend-a god that works as you crank him, certain simplicity is in order that lacks ing the N. J. Presbyterial on May 2.and you will soon devise a starter that the glitter of human sophistry but A mother-daughter banquet was heldwill save you labor. You will make sparkles with a radiance of another May 26, in the Civic Hall, with aboutyourself a wheel that the river will turn kind, beautiful, genuine. Magic and re- 50 ladies present.to wave your perirons before your idol. ligious mechanics look impressively Middletown, Dela.: Mr. RobertMake a tool out of God, and all your dull, by comparison. George III was ordained and installedreligion will soon be mechanical. Yet prayer is not an ordinary affair as Elder of Grace Church recently. He

We need to learn to pray. Sin cor- in an ordinary family. Our Lord's hands has been superintendent and teacher inrupts our religion. It rots our prayers. never tarnish the divine glory by his the Sunday school for some time.Too easily we dishonor God and make handling. An unbridgeable distancea creature out of the Creator. And an d f h' I 0 Carson, N. D.: Two weeks of spec-separates Go rom IS peop e. urexercise that should bring us blessing Lord teaches us to remember it in ial meetings were held in the Carson,and joy should not be done to our prayer; to make it our first thought. Lark and Leith churches the end ofsorrow. God is holy. He is infinite, eternal, un- April, with the Rev. W. Benson Male

Some think of prayer as an art. But changeable. And so we must say, "which of Denver as guest preacher. A chorusthey cultivate it with unhappy results. art in heaven" when we say, "our Fa- from the three churches provided spec-An impressive vocabulary, a rhythm of ther.' There is no room for presumptu- ial music. The services proved a richlanguage, cultured tones and modula- ous familiarity. The spirit of worship as blessing to the churches.tions of the voice are good in them- well as a sense of intimacy and a feeling I .selves. But they can be dead as marble Bend, Oregon: At a specia meenng

of "belonging" must control our pray- f h P b t f C lifornia thestatues-artistically fashioned by the 0 teres y ery 0 aurorrua,ers, because our God is the Father of al I' hi b th Rsculptor's chisel, yet less than a body pastor re anons rp etween e ev.

without a soul. Eternity. Robert Sander and the WestminsterPeople who pray that way pray for HENRY P. TAVARES Church of Bend was severed.

The Presbyterian Guardian is published monthly by the Presbyterian Guardian Publishing Corporation, 728 Schoff Building, 152-5$~a56 Street, P~i$~doil'7~~

~~~a;;'~~t~~7l~~O~;~gSi~~~:\g~~.abJ~t~re~t~~n~:C~~de~1~~~ ~~tf~rnM~r~hb~~r;bge37,'~ta;~eppa;;t°6tWcee

~~r~tiiFaOd~;'pgh~t.r~~~~r· the'Act~f M~;~h 3; 1879.

82 The Presbyterian Guardian

THE PRESBYTERIAN GUARDIANJUNE 151 1955

Loyalty ProgramTHE CHRISTIAN'S primary loyalty is to his Lord

Jesus Christ. He is to love the Lord his God withall his heart and soul and strength and mind. Nothingmay interfere with this commitment.

The Christian church may be viewed as the fellow­ship in which this primary loyalty can find its fullestoutlet and expression. By his loyalty to Christ, theChristian is committed to the Word of Christ, to theHoly Scriptures and to their teachings. The churchis the fellowship of those who are likeminded inadherence to the teaching of Scripture.

By his loyalty to Christ the Christian is committedto those practices on the personal, social, cultural andreligious levels which most accord with the law ofChrist. In the Christian church he finds or shouldfind congenial companionship as he endeavors to con­form life with law, and express law in life.

Hence, in the normal situation, there is and can beno conflict between the Christian's loyalty to hisChrist, and his "loyalty" to his church. The onerepresents the expression of the other.

Such a simple picture is, however, unfortunatelynot quite true to life. It is the ideal. It is often notrealized.

Take for example that church which has allowedthe influences of modern unbelief to enter it in largeror smaller measure. That such unbelief exists willnot be denied. That it has invaded many churcheswill be acknowledged. That it raises problems manyhave found out.

The individual who is personally committeed tohis Lord, and to the word of Christ, cannot in goodconscience support in the work of the church thatwhich violates his primary commitment. If thereare preachers in that church who do not accept orbelieve the Scriptures, he must protest. If there aremissionaries whose "gospel" is not the gospel ofScripture, the Christian may feel compelled to with­hold support of such missionaries. If the officialchurch agency which sends those missionaries out topreach the gospel insists that they are true to theBible, or insists that they are loyal to the church, andare to be retained, then the Christian may feel com­pelled to withhold support from that official agency.

Here the problem of personal loyalty to Christcomes into conflict with the demands of "loyalty"to the organization. This is no light matter. Consider

June 15, 1955

a candidate for the ministry. He has been broughtup in a particular denomination. He is personallycommitted to that for which the denomination stands,in so far as its statement of faith is concerned. Butas he has watched the church, he has become con­vinced that men in the church do not universally holdthe statement of faith. He has perhaps become con­vinced that activities of the church violate the prin­ciples set out in the statement. It may be that thechurch cooperates with other churches which are veryfar from agreeing with its professed faith, as with achurch that is a member of the National or WorldCouncils.

As a candidate for the ministry he is examined.Among other things he is asked, "Will you loyallysupport the agencies and activities of this church?"This question probably does not appear among theformal vows which a candidate takes. It may beraised in many different ways. But increasingly it isbeing raised in churches in our day. What is thecandidate to say?

Obviously he must take the position that his pri­mary loyalty is to Christ and the Scriptures, and thathe will be loyal to the church to the extent that he issatisfied in his own mind and conscience that thechurch is also loyal to Christ and the Scriptures. Butthis answer will not satisfy those who ask the ques­tion. They want a commitment to the church asorganization, as it exists, now. That is their loyaltyprogram. The candidate either submits, or he is notreceived. This has happened before. It is happeningtoday. It will continue to happen. It is a measureof our time.

Loyalty programs are strange things. The verymen who in a given denomination are most insistenton loyalty to that denomination, may at the sametime be likewise most insistent that the denominationitself be "loyal" to an interdenominational movementwhich violates denominational positions. The prob­lem cuts two ways.

Two things can be said. Loyalty to Christ maynever be sacrificed in the interests of loyalty to anorganization, even when that organization is a pro­fessing church. Secondly a truly joyous service ofChrist will be found only in a community of thoselikewise committed to Him and His Word.

1. W. S.

83

Basis for Decision

T HIS IS THE PERIOD of the year whenactions of various church courts

come up for revue and evaluation.Four actions of the General Assemblyof The Presbyterian Church in the U.S. A. have recently attracted attention.

The Assembly voted to approve theordination of women to the office ofthe ministry (women have been eligiblefor the eldership in this church since1930); it decided to eliminate the pro­visions for "licensure" from the re­quirements for a candidate for theministry; it found Claude Williams ofthe Presbytery of Detroit guilty ofdoctrinal heresy and ordered him "un­frocked"; and it rejected the requestof three professors of Fuller Seminaryin Pasadena, California, that the Pres­bytery of Los Angeles be required toreceive them into its membership, sincethey had been regularly dismissed toit from other presbyteries.

The second of the above items isnot of too great importance. It revealsa lessening of concern for the adequatetraining and examination of prospectiveministers. Bur in our day the technicalstatus of a licentiate is not of too greatsignificance. Actually, one is not sup­posed to stand in the pulpit to preachunless he is licensed. And he cannotbe licensed until he has completed twoyears of Seminary training. But in factyoung men in college often go ourwith "gospel" teams and do a great dealof preaching (call it 'exhorting' if youwill). In the Orthodox PresbyterianChurch one may not be appointed astated supply unless he is a licentiate,yet this provision too is often by-passedby the argument that one is not astated supply unless he preaches S'J

many times a month, and the figure isslightly arbitrary. Often the examina­tion for licensure is accepted in lieu offurther examination for ordination inthe same presbytery. Seminary studentswho have not been licensed are oftencalled on to conduct services inchurches. Licensure is supposed to openthe way for the candidate to "make atrial of his talents in the church," butit hardly serves that purpose. So longas an adequate and satisfactory exami­nation of the candidate is conducted,the formal status of licentiate is largely

84

technical.

The other three items from the Pres­byterian U.S.A. Assembly do raise sig­nificant questions. Claude Williamswas unfrocked because of subversion ofthe faith, preaching false doctrine, andviolating the rules of the church. TheJudicial Commission stated:

"We do not presume to sit in judg­ment on this man's soul ... But theprofoundest Biblical scholars and thegreatest spiritual leaders of our Churchhave promulgated and followed a sys­tem of doctrine which we and othersknow as Presbyterian. Before a mancan call himself a minister of ourchurch, the church requires completeand unequivocal commitment to thesolemn vow of ordination. This wouldbe frustrated if we were to leave stand­ing in our ranks men who no longersubscribe to those vows ... "

In the light of such a declaration wewonder what the Church is to thinkof those who during the past quartercentury have entertained many viewswhich violate their ordination vows­those who signed the Auburn Affirma­tion, for instance, and others. And wewonder what the church thinks of itsown action in suspending from theministry a man like Dr. Machen, whoseonly concern was to be true to thosesame ordination vows.

And what is the relationship of thisdecision to that concerning the FullerSeminary professors? Fuller is an in­dependent, fundamentalist institution.Independent agencies are anathema tothe Northern Presbyterian Church, sincethe infamous declaration of 1934.These Presbyterian professors are veryprobably closer to obedience to theirordination vows as Presbyterians, thanm.lny in the church. Bur they are to beembarrassed by being kept out of thepresbytery to which they would natur­ally belong, since that presbytery findsFuller seminary a seat of troublemak­ing. The basis of judgment here is notloyalty to doctrinal or other vows, bursubmission to ecclesiastical machinery.

And then there is the matter ofordaining women as ministers. This isa matter of church government, and isto be decided on appeal to Scripture.The matter is not one of honor for thewoman, of "women's rights" or any-

thing of the sort. It is a matter of theplace God has assigned the woman,according to His own Word. Andthere is little doubt that the Scripturesplainly give to the woman a place sub­ordinate to man in certain aspects ofchurch government. The office of theministry is one of these.

Here then the General Assembly ofthe Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.unfrocks a clergyman for disobedienceto his ordination vows, embarrassesseveral other clergymen who have notbeen disobedient to their ordinationvows but have taken positions thatembarrass the church machinery, andfinally authorizes the ordination of wo­men, contrary to the Word of God towhich in their ordination vows theministers of the church are committed.And in the background is the church'srecord of having suspended from theministry men who were violently loyalto their ordination vows, and of havingelected to the supreme office of thechurch men who were on record asnot submitting to their ordination vows.

A church which has given up theacceptance of Scripture as really itsrule of faith and practice, and which inconsequence must deal with such mat­ters on the basis of subjective judg­ments and prejudices can be expectedto follow such inconsistent practice.It has no true basis for its decisions.

1. W.S.

%%~GUARDIAN

1505 Race Street, Philadelphia 2, Pa.

Leslie W. Sloat

Editor and Manager

John P. ClellandArthur W. Kuschke, Jr.

Robert S. MarsdenContributing Editors

The Presbyterian Guardian

"'-

O..lbodox P ..esbyle..iallGene..al Assembly

TH E GENERAL ASSEMBLY of TheOrthodox Presbyterian C h u r c h

meeting in Philadelphia May 25-30,proposed to the presbyteries a specifictext of the Confession of Faith, to beadopted as the official text of the de­nomination, found that the Presbyteryof Philadelphia had erred in certainactions relative to the ordination of theRev. G. Travers Sloyer but held theordination itself valid, deferred actionon a proposed revision of the Form ofGovernment, instructed the Committeeon Christian Education to prepare andpublish as soon as possible Sabbathschool lessons for the denomination(there is no indication this can be ac­complished for several years), and dealtwith a number of other relatively minormatters in the four days of business itallowed itself. The Assembly adjournedon Monday evening, shortly before 11o.m.

Devotional Service

The devotional service preceedingthe Assembly was held in Calvary Orth­odox Presbyterian Church, adjacent tothe Westminster Seminary campus inthe Philadelphia suburbs, on Wednes­day evening, May 25. The Rev. RobertK. Churchill of Cedar Grove, Wiscon­sin, Moderator of the Assembly lastyear, presided at this service andpreached the sermon. In the observanceof the Lord's Supper he was assisted bythe Rev. Francis Mahaffy, missionaryto Eritrea, and by the Rev. Dr. Law­rence N. Manross, professor in Whea­ton College, Ill. Ruling Elders LeonardBrown of the Baltimore Church, CharlesPhillips of the Nottingham church, L.H. Barker of the Long Beach, Calif.church, and B. A. Cooley of CovenantChurch, Rochester, N.Y., distributedthe elements to the congregation.

Assembly Officials

Business sessions got under wayThursday morning at 9 a.m. The rollcall showed some fifty commissionerspresent. Others arrived at later points,and the total attendance at the Assem-

June 15, 1955

By LESLIE W. SLOAT

bly numbered about 55 ministers and 15ruling elders. All presbyteries of thechurch were represented.

The printed Minutes of the previousAssembly, with the noting of a fewtypographical errors, were approved.

The stated clerk reported that hedid not have statistical informationfrom all the churches, but from theinformation he did have it appearedthere were 108 ministers in the de­nomination, 72 churches and 12 chap­els. The total communicant membershipwas not yet available.

The Rev. Robert Marsden and theRev. Ralph Clough were nominatedfor the position of stated clerk. TheRev. Raymond Meiners, clerk for thepast two years, was also nominated,but on his own request his name waswithdrawn. Mr. Marsden was electedto the office.

For the office of Moderator, RobertL. Vining of Nottingham, Leroy Oliverof Fairlawn, N. J., Lawrence Manross,and Dr. E. J. Young were nominated.On the second ballot Mr. Vining waselected. He was escorted to the chairby the Rev. Elmer Dortzbach of Frank­lin Square, N.Y. Mr. Churchill wel­comed him, and assured him that,though Moderator, he would not becalled the "head" of the church, norwould he spend the coming year travel­ing about visiting the churches, as istrue of moderators of some other de­nominations. Mr. Vining indicated hewould be quite content with the honorand privilege of serving the church inthis Assembly.

Mr. Leroy Oliver was then chosenas assistant to the stated clerk. This jobinvolves the taking of the Minutes ofthe Assembly sessions. So efficient werethe clerks that on Monday evening,at the close of that day's sessions, theMinutes for the day were read offwithout difficulty or delay, somethingthat has not happened previously, sofar as we recall.

Overtures and Communications

Following the election of the officers,the Assembly listened to the overtures

and communications addressed to theAssembly. One from the presbytery ofNew York and New England regardinga change of name, has already beenprinted in the Guardian. Several relatedto the proposed revision of the Formof Government. One suggested that inthe Statistics as printed in the Minutes,the record show the average Sabbathschool attendance, instead of the en­rollment. Another asked that the As­sembly meet only every two years. Stillanother overture asked the Assembly toconsider the matter of the Church'srelation to the Boy Scouts of America.

Among the communications, a letterfrom the Synod of the GereformeerdeKerken of the Netherlands, to whichthe Orthodox Presbyterian Church holdsa "sister" relationship, informed theassembly of the date and place of thenext Synod meeting, and invited theAssembly to send a delegate. There wasa letter of greeting from the JapanMission of the church. A communica­tion from D. Ray Wilcox, chairmanof the committee on church union ofthe Synod of the Reformed PresbyterianChurch in North America invitedthe Assembly to join in conversationslooking to better understand and possi­ble union. And a letter from the Re­formed Churches in New Zealand, ad­dressed to all churches which partici­pated in the Reformed EcumenicalSynod in Edinburgh in 1953, sharplycriticized the position the Synod hadtaken on the question of membershipin the World Council of Churches.

The complaints against actions rela­tive to the ordination of Mr. Sloyer,were not read at this time but were readin full later, when the matter camebefore the Assembly for consideration.

When the docket was adopted, itwas arranged that there should be a"coffee break" (though the word "cof­fee" was eliminated) for 20 minutes at3.30 p.rn. each day. This refreshingdeparture from custom was so wellreceived that it will undoubtedly be­come a permanent feature of futureassemblies.

Foreign Missions

The report of the Committee onForeign Missions was read by thechairman of the committee, ProfessorJohn Murray. The report told brieflyof the work in Eritrea, Formosa, Japanand Korea.

85

The Docll"ine 01 God andEvangelical Unily

Eritrea: Three mIssIOnary familieswork here, the Herbert Birds, FrancisMahaffys, and Clarence Duffs. Theiractivities include the preparation anddistribution of tracts, the holding ofevangelistic services, the managementof a small clinic at Ghinda ( theyreported a total of 9,079 treatmentsduring the year), and other relatedwork. Color film strips are often usedin connection with evangelistic ser­vices and Bible messages. At the clinictape-recorded messages are played whiletreatments are given.

The Mahaffy family has been homeon furlough during the past year, butis scheduled to leave for Eritrea thelatter part of June. Mr. Mahaffy suf­fered severe ear and eye infectionswhile on the field. These have beenbrought under control, though theyhave left some impairment of bothsight and hearing. He has been advisedhe may return to the field, but a care­ful check must be kept of his condition.The Committee reported it wouldcontinue to provide the best medicalcare possible.

Formosa: Three missionary familiesalso work on this island. They arethe Rev. Egbert W. Andrews, theGaffin family and the Johnston family.Mr. Andrews is due home this summeron furlough. Their work consists ofholding Bible study classes and evan­gelistic services, often in connectionwith the southern (English) Synodof the Presbyterian Church in Formosa.

Japan: Two families, the GeorgeUomotos and the Heber McIlwaines,are stationed in the area of Sendai.Their work consists of holding Bibleclasses and evangelistic services, oftenin conjunction with the ReformedChurch of Japan.

Korea: The church also has twomissionary families, the Bruce Huntsand the Theodore Bards, in Kor cl.Both families live in Pusan, and bothmen are associated with the work ofKorea Theological Seminary in that city.In addition to teaching at the Seminary,Mr. Hunt often preaches in churches ofthe General Presbytery PresbyterianChurch, and conducts evangelistic ser­vices throughout the area. Mr. Hard,while engaged in language study, hasmany opportunities to minister to

American soldiers stationed in Pusan,and more recently has served as aliaison between the Army and theKoreans in handling matters related tothe building of the new Calvin Univer-

86

sity buildings, for which the Army isproviding materials.

The committee reported total givingto the Home and Foreign Missionswork had increased to $112,362 from$96,058 the previous year. The portionreceived by the Committee on ForeignMissions was $64,133, a very substan­tial increase from the previous year.

The committee reported it had setup a budget of $62,630 for the cur­rem fiscal year. No changes in themissionary personnel are anticipated,though there is the possibility of a nursebeing sent to the Eritrea field.

Elections

Dr. William Welmers, Robert Vin­ing, and 1. W. Sloat were elected to

the committee as ministerial membersin the class of 1958, and ruling eldersWilliam Campbell and Willard Neelas the elder members in that class. ElderP. Width was elected to the class of1957, replacing James Ashida, who re­signed because he is being transferredout of the country by his employer.

MR. CHAIRMA.N, members of theFaculty, Trustees, members of the

graduating class, parents, and friends,today as we gather here is a day ofrejoicing. It is a cause for rejoicingand of giving of thanks to God. Youyoung men have successfully completeda course of training designed to prepareyou for the ministry, to glority Godthrough the proclamation of God's in­fallible Word. This is evidence thatGod's grace still abounds. God is stillcalling sinful men to the study of HisWord, to the end that they might befaithful in the carrying of the fullmessage of God to the ends of theworld.

The world into which you go, asmessengers of God, is a world that istwisted and torn by the ravages of sin.H is a world of unrest. It is a worldthat knows little of peace. It is a worldwith many ideologies and philosophieswarring one against another. But beassured of this, that though man-madeideologies and philosophies may be atenemity at points one against another,

Special CommitteesThe special committees set up to

deal with various matters before theAssembly were announced by the Mod­erator:

Committee on Overtures and Com­munications: Churchill, Stonehouse,Clough, Male, Kreiner.

Committee on the Complaints: Kel­logg, DeVelde, Cummings, Eyres,Clowney.

Committee on General Assembly Af­fairs: Murray, B. Coie, Young.

Committee on Correspondence withother churches: Woolley, Dunn, Camp­bell.

Bible LeagueMr. Edward Klokow of Westchester,

111., who is the church's representativewith the World Home Bible League,sent in a brief report concerning theLeague, which was read»

"As another General Assembly con­venes, and another milestone has beenreached by The Orthodox PresbyterianChurch, I pray, as I am sure we all do,

(See "Assembly," p. 92)

By LAWRENCE N. MANROSS

they are basically united against Chris­tian revelation. This has always beentrue, and should be understood by any­one who confesses the name of Christ.

Lack of Evangelical Unity

What concerns us most is not thedivisions among non-Christian camps,nor their union against Christianity,but rather the division in evangelicalChristianity - Evangelical, interpretedand used in a wide sense, those whoprofess to believe in the God of theBible and accept the Scriptures as theonly infallible rule of faith and prac­tice. It is this problem that is oursubject today; and in particular therelationship between the doctrine ofGod and evangelical unity.

We do confess and rejoice that thebody of Christ is one body-not two,not three, not four or more-but oneglorious body, in which every memberhas been the object of the same sov­ereign grace and the recipient of thesame Holy Spirit. But we do not con­fess, nor can we rejoice, that all mern-

The Presbyterian Guardian

I

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bers of the body of Christ are unitedin the faith which they profess. Yet,there is but one Lord, one faith, onebaptism. It is this lack of unity of faiththat divides, weakens, and helps torender impotent evangelical Christian­ity. This cannot but distress the heartof any Christian who ponders the pres­ent situation. It is shameful, yea it issinful. Christians are one by God'sgrace, and should manifest that unityin their profession of faith. In assessingthe present situation obtaining in evan­gelicalism, it is our thesis that the doc­trine of God lies at the heart of thelack of unity.

Doctrine of God Central

We believe that a short resume ofthe history leading up to the presentday will amply support this thesis. Ingiving and speaking of such a history,we realize of. course the innumerableinstances and events that have con­tributed to the present evangelical situ­ation, many of which, indeed most ofwhich, probably we will not touch atall. But we will call your attention tosome that have had a profound effectupon producing the present situationwith which we are faced today.

Defection in the Presbyterian andCongregational bodies in our countrybegan with defections on the doctrineof God, though the manifestation ofsuch defection often appeared underother heads. To cite some examples.The controversy of 1837 between theold school and the new school theology,resulting in the division of the Presby­terian Church was basically in itsdeeper aspects a controversy over thedoctrine of God. The reunion effectedin 1869 simply indicated that a largerpm of the Presbyterian body was will­ing to take God much less seriously.The attempted amendment and theamendment to the Constitution be­tween 1889 and 1903 reveal a doctrinalweakness on the person of God, tosay nothing of other weaknesses thatthey may reveal. Thus within the de­nominations the leadership defectedupon the doctrine of God and pavedthe way for outright unbelief whichfollowed.

Rise of Evangelicalism

The unbelief within the denomina­tion gave rise to movements withinand without the denomination, whichin large part constitute present dayevangelicalism. The evidence is abund­ant that many of these movements

June 15, 1955

within and without began on a muchweaker doctrinal basis than that towhich they were committed when theywere within. Laymen, aroused at thecreeping unbelief within the church,sponsored in the early twentieth cen­tury a series of little volumes entitled,The Fundamentals, in an effort to bol­ster the faith of Christians in suchdoctrines as the virgin birth of Christ,the Scriptures, the deity of Christ, andthe like. At this point we should notethat these little books undertook tobattle the unbelief as it appeared in thedenial of these so-called fundamentalsof the faith. But these little books didnot undertake to strike unbelief at itsroot-unbelief in the sovereign Godof the Scripture. This was a seriousweakness, a weakness which has consti­tuted and characterized evangelicalism'sposition and apologetic for the Chris­tian faith largely to this day. As theinroad of unbelief continued in thedenomination with the consequentdeadening of life and vision there aroseindependent agencies, missions, Bibleschools, Bible conferences, largely con­stituted to meet the challenge for Bibleteaching, and especially with an em­phasis upon foreign missions. This, asall other such movements, was a reac­tion to what was being done or notbeing done in the mother denomina­tion. Unfortunately the missionaryeffort found more of an impelling

This is the address delivered by theRev. Professor Lawrence N. Manrossat the Commencement exercises ofWestminster Theological SeminaryMay 11. The address is reproducedfrom a recording made at the time.

motive in humanitarianism than intheism. The emphasis was upon thelost-lost man, rather than upon theglory of God and the commandment ofGod. Again the fundamental lack in theold denomination-no, appreciation ofthe person of God-was not fullyrecognized. Consequently the opposi­tion movement, here as in the effort ofthe laymen in the publication of TheFundamentals, was an opposition thatdid not take into account fully the rootof the matter, the person of God.

Weakness of EvangelicalismThis same failure was evident in

the evangelical portion of the Presby­terian Church U.S.A. when the GeneralAssembly in 1923 pronounced that itreaffirmed its faith in the Bible, thevirgin birth, the atonement, the resur-

rection, and miracles, as essentialdoctrines of Scripture and the West­minster Confession of Faith. This pro­nouncement revealed a fundamentalweakness in the general opposition tounbelief, when you think of a GeneralAssembly pronouncement of the essen­tials of the faith that fails to includeGod except by inference. The GeneralAssembly action was the immediatecause for the Auburn Affirm.ationwhich joined issue with the evangeli­cals on the so-called five fundamentalsof the faith. And this was a happy dayfor unbelief, for so long as these fivedoctrines could be discussed abstractlywithout due relation to the sovereignGod of Scripture, and the WestminsterConfession of Faith, victory for un­belief was assured.

Dr. Machen and others clearlyrecognized this, but evangelicals ingeneral certainly did not. Dr. Machensaid at the close of his book, The VirginBirth of Christ, after giving that monu­mental argument and apologetic for thevirgin birth-said this, and I quote,"The New Testament presentation ofJesus is not an aglomeration but anorganism, and of that organism the vir­gin birth is an integral part. Removethe part, and the whole becomes harder,and not easier, to accept. The NewTestament account of Jesus is most con­vincing when it is taken as a whole."And that is but an indication, of course,of his position not only regarding thevirgin birth but regarding any doctrineof Scripture, that it is the whole that

. is true, and that the whole should bedealt with together, and not one inabstraction from another. The fivepoints of doctrine to which the AuburnAffirmation took issue have been andcontinue to be the touchstones of ortho­doxy. As new churches, schools, mis­sions, and so forth, were organized,short creeds were written embracingthese five points, with a few other oflesser importance, taking a stand moreoften than not upon some particulartype of dispensationalism or some pointof eschatology. The blatant denial ofthe five points by unbelievers causedevangelicals to assume that belief ofthe five points constituted orthodoxy.The doctrine of God, the heart of thewhole matter, was unconsciously over­looked. The widespread denial of oneor more of the five points tended tomake all evangelicals feel a kindredspirit in their common love of the

(See "Manross," p. 91)

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ByA.BOYCESPOONER

Tile Voice By Tile Sea ..

STRANGE ENOUGH to us who live sohard by the ocean's curling waves,

there ate many who have never wettheir feet in its cooling brine, nor heardits music in their ears. The mountain­eer, rooted to his lofty perch; the plains­men of Kansas; the river folk alongthe Ohio or the mighty Miss. . . . manyindeed have never caught scent of therich Jersey sea-flats, or heard the pulseof the Atlantic as they paced the sandsbeside its restless water.

For people like these, an enterprisingHigh-Fidelity recording company hasmade a disc called "The Voice of theSea." It is pure ocean in all its moods:storm, calm, surf, breakers, combers ...against the rocky shore, against thesand . . . replete with screaming gulland sounding buoy. With High Fidel­ity's wide range of sound, and with abinaural reproduction, one can almosthear every drop of water in each waveas it trickles back to the sea. The Board­walk Chapel plans to use this recordingin connection with its program thissummer.

Truly such a recording might wellbe a signature to the Chapel and itswork. For years this work of the NewJersey Presbytery has been a "Voiceby the Sea." How appropriate in a waythis seems! For we can look backthrough our New Testament and followthe course of our Lord as he walked bythe Sea of Galilee. There He preachedand taught and healed, and there Heruled over the wind and the waves.

Today, by His grace, beside the greatAtlantic, His voice may be heird. Manyhave heard that voice as the BoardwalkChapel through the years has consist­ently preached the whole counsel ofGod to the thousands streaming by thedoors. Many have heard that voice andwalked away, but many have believedunto salvation. We believe in thatvoice. We would lift it up again eachyear with the same message of thegospel of our Saviour Jesus Christ.

Last year, with Mr. Robert Lucas asChapel Director, there were five con­versions, and many more felt the im­pact of th- preaching and returnedhome with renewed interest in the

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•

work of the Kingdom, and in their ownpersonal duty to God as His sonsthrough Christ Jesus. How many thous­ands were reached without our knowl­edge by the Word on the preachers'lips, from the personal work of theChapel workers, from the Admaticslides, from the printed tracts and books... we perhaps will never know. But

God's word always bears fruit where theHoly Spirit so leads and revives. Whatbetter fishing ground for the souls ofmen than here by the restless sea, wherethousands of restless souls parade pasteach hour! How vital that we continueto make that voice heard!

The Chapel is in better shape thisyear than it has ever been. Much of therepair work has been the direct effortof one of Westfield's fine group ofelders ... Elder Bert Roeber, the ef­ficient Tax Collector of Westfieldwhose single hobby is to work for theLord. This year he has rebuilt the entiresidewalk of the Chapel, and mademany improvements both inside andout. But there remains a need that isbeyond even the capable hands of Mr.Roeber. The Chapel Committee hasdesired for some time to expand thefacilities of the Chapel; not to makeit a hotel . . . but to accommodateadditional workers who could comedown for several days at a time andparticipate in its programs and in itsevangelistic work.

Real talent in our church often liesjust beyond the distance that can becomfortably covered in a few hours.More distant churches would feel en­couraged to send some of their talentedmembers, soloists, instrumental musi­cians, quartettes, orchestras, choirs . ..if there were some place where theycould be put up over night. The Com­mittee proposes a simple motel-typeaddition at the rear of the presentChapel, providing a single-story, thena double-story dormitory that will house8 persons at first, then, when the secondstory is completed ... at least 12 more.Then large groups, even whole chor­uses, could lend the beauty of theirmusic to this "Voice by the Sea."

The Chapel plans to separate its work

this year, making the main emphasis ofthe evening meetings to be that of pre­senting to sinners the fact of their sin,and the fact of God's plan of salvationin Jesus Christ. During the late after­noon, the early evening, and the wee,late hours, the Chapel will be open,with recordings and Visual presenta­tions, not only of the "Gospel," but ofthe whole thrust of the historic faith.To this end, a propaganda shop ideawill be used, where literature of theReformed Faith will be presented, andwhere exhibitions will present readingmatter in the form of large posters etc.for those who hear the music and lookm,

Miss Connie Hunt, daughter of Rev.and Mrs. B. F. Hunt, Orthodox Pres­byterian missionaries in Korea, willassist with the music throughout thesummer. Mr. A. Boyce Spooner ismanaging the services for the 1955season, and will reside at the chapel.The program for the summer includesnot only the preaching services by se­lected ministers, but active tract dis­tribution, Biblical slides and movies tobe shown nightly, and an endeavor tomake the results of contacts availableto both the Home Missions Committee,and the pastors of churches in whosearea these contacts may live.

Pray especially this summer for this"Voice by the Sea," ... that in thiswork there might be warm endeavorto show men their sins . . . and to showmen the only Saviour their sins canever know. Pray that because of this"Voice by the Sea" men might findpeace of soul by th-. restless, ceaselesswaves ... peace that only Christ cangive.

Willis Hospitalized

T HE REV. GEORGE J. WILLIS,pastor of St. Andrews Orthodox

Presbyterian Church, Baltimore, Md.was taken ill while attending the Re­formed Ministerial Institute at West­minster Seminary May 17-20. Exami­nation at the hospital revealed he wassuffering from a duodenal ulcer. Mr.Willis was compelled to remain inthe hospital in Baltimore for severalweeks, and was advised to take atleast six weeks rest following release.The condition was not deemed suchas to require surgery.

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",

Evangelizing The Children (8)

The Task ofThe Sa.day School

I

TH E SUNDAY SCHOOL is a nobleinstitution, but it is not the church.

A servant, to be a good and usefulservant in the house where he is em­ployed, must "know his place." So alsothe Sunday school, to be a good andprofitable agency of the church, mustknow its place. It must realize that itmerely serves the church, that it is onlyone member of a team of agencieswhich serve the church and must, there­fore, work with those other societies tomake an effective team.

In the previous article this point wasmade clear: The Sunday school is asort of satelite that revolves around thechurch or, to change the figure, a tribu­tary to the church and not a church initself as it is inclined, by a degenerativeprocess, to become. It remains for usnow to see in some measure how thisprinciple is to be realized. Remember,the Sunday school is an evangelisticagency, particularly an agency for theevangelizing of children. And this workis to be divided into two parts:indirect and direct.

Indirect Evangelism

When, during wartime, the head ofa state travels on dangerous waters, theship in which he travels never travelsby itself. A veritable cordon of men ofwar surrounds him, and he sails underan umbrella of fighter escort. So alsothe child. His soul is of infinite value;God would have that tender soul pro­tected at all cost from the enemy of allsouls. Hence the Christian home. Thespiritual and moral discipline, tenderlove and day-to-day nurture are theonly sure way to bring a child safe tothe heavenly Father's home.

For this reason the Sunday schoolshould include as a necessary part ofits program, a system for the effectiveleading of the parents of its youngcharges to Christ. As soon as a newchild is enrolled the home should bevisited by the pastor or some othercompetent person. Upon welcoming thechild into the Sunday school, it shouldpromptly be made clear what the

June 15, 1955

BY LAWRENCE R. EYRES

scriptural requirements for the homeare if the children are to be raised forChrist. The significance of such Scrip­tures as the following should be pointedout to them: Deuteronomy 6: 1-9, Mat­thew 18: 1-14, Proverbs 22:6 andEphesians 6:4. With loving simplicityit should be made clear to them thatthe Sunday school cannot do for theirchildren what they themselves are re­quired by God to do, but that theSunday school is prepared to train themto fulfill their God-appointed functionas the spiritual teachers of their chil­dren. They then should be invited toenroll in a parents' class to receive thistraining. This class should be for par­ents only and taught by the pastor, orsome one specially qualified to teachthe subject matter. The aim of thiscourse should be How to Establish andMaintain a Christian Home. Underthis theme the following subjects shouldbe dealt with at some length: (1) Howto become a Christian, (2) The natureof the child and its value in the sightof God, (3) The sort of nurture whichchildren require, (4) The relation ofthe Christian church to the Christianhome, (5) The proper use of theChristian sabbath, ( 6 ) Elements offormal home training (such as tableand bed-time prayers, catechism etc.),( 7) Informal instruction in the home(answering those endless quesrionsl );and finally (8) What the Bible saysabout teaching obedience.

Parents entering such classes usuallyshow an amazing eagerness to learnthese lessons. Never in adult life is onemore often non-plussed than when hischildren begin to ask questions andshow the need of wisdom and firmnessin their rearing. Even before the fulldawn of the consciousness of Christianfaith these parents begin to put intopractice what they learn. With the ad­ditional aid of the direct teaching theirchildren receive in Sunday school, thesalvation of children from these homesis as fully assured as human agency isable to accomplish. If, as previously said,covenant training is evangelism par

excellence, this technique is the mostexcellent way of extending the cov­enant.

Direct Evangelism

It goes without saying that the greatmajority of parents, personally con­fronted with their duty to be the spiri­tual teachers of their own children, willnot accept the challenge. This is amajor tragedy, nevertheless the case oftheir children is not entirely hopeless.The Sunday school must still try toreach these boys and girls throughdirect evangelism.

But direct evangelism is still evan­gelism through giving to children thenurture and admonition of the Lord.Our objective must then be to seek togive them as much of that needful nur­ture and admonition as our facilitiesand opportunities permit. And righthere the Sunday school must be con­cerned with both quality and quantityof teaching.

( 1) Quality. We must have teachersand officers who possess the necessaryqualifications. The first of these qualifi­cations is consecration. How inexcus­ably tragic when men and women standbefore these little children to teach onething with their lips and another withtheir lives! And how can we set theirchildish hearts on fire with devotion forthe Savior when the coals we use toignite them are cold, dead ashes? Betterto wound the feelings of a few well­meaning but fruitless teachers and offi­cers than to destroy the souls of littlechildren. How can we face the Lord inthe Judgment with such a weight ofguilt on our souls? "It were better forhim that a mill stone were hangedabout his neck, and that he weredrowned in the depth of the sea" (Mat­thew 18:6).

The second qualification is ability.Children today are not angels. To teachthem one must be able to cope withthem. These "little angels" are apt to"express" themselves till bedlam pre­vails. It is just no good to assign ateacher to teach children whom he can'tcontrol, who "run all over" him. Aftera few such sessions the child gets boredand, if he has his own way (as oftenhe does!), he will soon drop Out ofSunday school altogether.

A third qualification of a goodteacher or superintendant is that he"adopt" and generally give himself tohis class or department. Each child istaken into his heart, he prays for eachone daily, he makes a personal conquest

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out of winning the child's confidenceand affection. No sacrifice is too greatfor such a loving heart. Churches andSessions should be on the watch forsuch teachers and leaders, and a pro­gram for training these for their taskshould be a regular part of their pro­gram. A word of caution at this point:These teachers and officers should notbe overloaded with other jobs in thechurch which will compete with timeneeded for their Sunday school assign­ments. They should be encouraged tomake this, not merely a job, but aministry.

(2) Quantity. Direct Evangelism ofchildren must be in quantity. The evilinfluences brought to bear upon thechildren of non-Christian homes is over­whelming by sheer weight of volume.Many children watch television forhours a day. The philosophy of the TVprogram is secularistic to say the least.Then there is the secularism of thepublic school-five hours a day, fivedays a week, thirty-six weeks a year.That's nine hundred hours over againstthe total of thirty hours, on the average,that children from such homes spend inSunday school in a year! It's easy tosee that the odds are tremendouslyagainst the child who gets all his Chris­tian nurture in the conventional Sundayschool. It is a marvel almost unbeliev­able that, despite such overwhelmingodds, some children are actually broughtto saving faith in Christ by so little.God requires so much more than this,according to His Word, that it is noth­ing short of criminal that any Sundayschool give to little children, who cometo them to get all the knowledge ofChrist they'll ever get in their child­hood, anything less than the maximumit is able to give. Every minute of theSunday school hour is golden. Don'twaste them. Superinrendanrs, start ontime, have the opening and closing peri­ods contribute as much to the total taskof imparting the contents of the Wordof God as can possibly be written onthose young hearts! Teachers, don'tfritter away the precious minutes inidle banter and unessential side issueswhich have no relation to the task athand. Try to catch a vision of the ur­gency of your task by rememberingthat souls are hanging in the balance.

We close this article with two furtherexhortations directed particularly toSEssions and others who have responsi­bility for the operation of your Sundayschools. First, be self-critical. Constantly

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review the whole program and practiceof your Sunday school. How well areyou accomplishing your evangelisticmission? Where can you act to improvethe quality and quantity of your in­struction? Have frequent meetings towork over these problems as a staff ofteachers and officers. See if you cannotinspire one another to greater diligence.Second, remember that you are only onemember of a team-coordinate with theother organizations of the church andsubordinate to the church itself. Soremember your place, work togetheras a team to the salvation of souls andthe glory of God.

Seminary RevisesAdministration

A T THE ANNUAL MEETING of theBoard of Trustees of Westminster

Seminary held May 10-11, a series ofadministrative changes proposed by theFaculty was approved and will be putinto effect this fall.

The changes involve the establish­ment of three new academic admin­istrative offices, a Presiding Fellow, aDean of the Faculty, and a Dean ofStudents. Dr. VanTil was chosen forthe first position, Dr. Ned B. Stone­house as Dean of the Faculty, and Pro­fessor Paul Woolley as Dean of Stu­dents. Miss Margaret Robinson, whohas been secretary for a number ofyears, was chosen Registrar, and willsupervise the keeping of academic rec­ords and arrange room assignments forthe students, and perform other dutiesof the office.

In other actions, the Board approveda year's leave of absence for ProfessorJohn Murray, for the coming academicyear, and appointed the Rev. RobertD. Knudsen as Lecturer in theologyfor the year. Professor Murray expectsto be living at the Seminary during thecoming year, but will be engaged inresearch and writing rather than inteaching.

The Rev. William 1. Hiemstra wasinvited to deliver a series of lectures inthe department of practical theologyduring the coming year. He will givea course in pastoral theology, and dur­ing the second term an elective coursein pastoral psychology. He is Chaplainat the Christian Sanatorium in Wyckoff,N.J.

Four new trustees were elected to fillvacancies on the Board. They are theRev. Eugene Bradford, pastor of Third

Christian Reformed Church of Pater­son, N.J.; the Rev. LeRoy B. Oliver,pastor of Grace Orthodox PresbyterianChurch in Fair Lawn, N.].; the Rev.Clarence ]. Vas, pastor of the BethelChristian Reformed Church of Pater­son, and Dr. Joseph Memmelaar, aphysician, from Bangor, Maine.

The Rev. Robert Marsden, ExecutiveSecretary, reported to the Board thatcontributions to the Seminary duringthe fiscal year ended March 31 wereat a high level, and that regular con­tributions amounted to over $102,000.The number of sources of income was2,340, highest in the history of theSeminary. Mr. Marsden indicated, how­ever, that there was grave danger theSeminary would find itself short ofoperating funds during the currentsummer months.

Philadelphia Presbyterial

TH E ANNUAL Spring Meeting ofthe Women's Presbyterial of the

Presbytery of Philadelphia was heldApril 28 at St. Andrews OrthodoxPresbyterian Church in Baltimore.

Mrs. Leonard Brown presided at themeeting, and conducted the openingdevotional service. Mrs. O'Leary ofthe host church extended a cordial wel­come to the delegates.

The morning session included abusiness meeting, and a panel discus­sion on the topic, "Know YourChurch." Various delegates describedthe functions of the several church or­ganizations and agencies: Mrs. GeorgeWillis spoke on the session; Mrs.Clarke Evans the Trustees and Dea­cons; Mrs. Murray Forst Thompsonthe Presbytery; Mrs. Raymond Com­meret the General Assembly; Mrs.John Galbraith the Missions Commit­tees; and Mrs. A. Eugene Hayman theCommittee on Christian Education.Special music was provided by Mrs.Cornmerer and Mrs. Clyde Johnson.

In the afternoon, following news ofthe missionaries given by Mrs. Gal­braith, prayer groups met for specialprayer for this aspect of the Church'swork.

The guest speaker of the afternoonwas the Rev. Robert Eckardt of East­lake Church, Wilmington. He spokeon the subject of Home Missions. Hav­ing served in the Evergreen Park field,he was well acquainted with his sub­ject. He organized his talk under fourheadings of things needed for mission

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work-people to hear, a message tobring, workers to go forth, and moneyto send them out. But he emphasizedthat there is only one mission field, thewhole world.

The offering was sent to the Cam­mittee on Foreign Missions, to be usedto help finance the translation intoJapanese of the book by Dr. E. J.Young, Introduction to the Old Testa­ment.

New officers for the next two yearswere elected, and were installed byMrs. Glenn R. Coie. The officers areMrs. Leonard Brown, president; Mrs.John Galbraith, vice-president; Mrs.L. Jebb of Kirkwood, recording secre­tary; Mrs. Robert Vining of Notting­ham, corresponding secretary; Mrs. C.Johnston of Middletown, Pa., treasurer;and Mrs. H. Faram of Silver Spring,assistant secretary and treasurer.

-MRS. A. E. HAYMAN

Ohio Presbyterial

TH E WOMEN'S PRESBYTERIAL ofOhio Presbytery met on May 7 at

Wayside Church, Grove City, Penna.Mrs. T. F. Armour, retiring president,conducted the meeting.

The delegates were particularly im­pressed with the work which had beendone in redecorating the auditoriumof the church, which once on a time hadserved as the local school house.

The Rev. Wendell Rockey conductedan impressive installation service for thenewly elected officers. These are Mrs.Dorothy Shoup of New Hope, presi­dent; Mrs. William Speer of Harris­ville, vice-president; Mrs. Hazel Hoc­kenberry of New Hope, correspondingsecretary; Mrs. Conrad Bonomo ofPittsburgh, recording secretary; andMrs. Ruth Shaw of Grove City, treas­urer.

At the morning meeting Miss SaraSpeer gave an able and interesting re­view of the biography of Dr. J. Gres­ham Machen, by Dr. Stonehouse.Special music was provided by youngpeople of Wayside church.

In the afternoon there was a specialprayer service for missionaries of thedenomination, and for the localchurches. An interesting and enlighten­ing letter from Mrs. Henry Phillips,formerly of Grove City but now atGresham, Wisconsin, was read, tellingof the work on the Menominee IndianReservation. The letter, which reportedencouraging developments, was illustra­ted by slides showing various aspects

June 15, 1955

of the work.The address of the afternoon was by

the Rev. Frank Breisch of Harrisville,on the subject, "Pentecost and Mis­sions." He contrasted the Old Testa­ment dispensation with the New,emphasizing the new program, thenew message, and the new power,which he described as the fulness of theHoly Spirit. He urged the women ofthe Presbyterial to be obedient toChrist's command to "be witnesses."

An offering was received for thework of the missions committees ofthe denomination.

-MRS. C. K. CUMMINGS

Manross(Continued from p. 87)

Scriptures, and the five points, andthis was good. But it also led them tothink that they agreed one with anothermuch more than was really the case.

Doctrines UnrelatedThus evangelicals came to think they

were in agreement. Witness the "Bible"church, the "community" church, the"people's" church, with the rise of ananti -denominarional, anti -confessionalattitude. Thus there developed the falseidea that Christians agreed on the doc­trine of God, or, that it was of relativeunimportance. This led to the presentironic situation when in practice Godis often relegated to a position of doc­trinal importance subordinate to somesmall subsidiary doctrine held by afragment of the Christian church.

The doctrinal battles with the churchhave had a sad effect upon evangelical­ism. They have tended to cause theevangelical to shift his thoughts fromGod to doctrine in the worst sense,doctrine in unrelatedness, unrelatednessto God in particular. This unrelatednessis not absolute. Such a position wouldbe impossible for a Christian. But tothe extent that relationships are made,they are often made unconsciously.That this is true is evidenced again bythe short creeds, often mentioning Godonly by name. In short it has beenwrongly assumed that one's doctrine ofGod would not materially affect hisposition on other Biblical doctrines.It has been taken for granted thatindividuals holding widely divergentviews on the person of God couldnevertheless agree fully on the fivefundamentals of the faith. Sad to say,the five so-called fundamentals of thefaith have never included God exceptby implication.

Evangelicalism Divides

Such an illogical position could notpossibly serve to hold the people to­gether except during a life and deathstruggle, a hand to hand combat againsta common enemy. In the main this lifeand death struggle was fought by mi­norities within denominational bodiesagainst majorities who controlled thosedenominations. Under such circum­stances the minorities could not helpbut emphasize their agreement andminimize their differences. When there­fore the climax of the individual de­nominational battles was past,-and notall have passed the climax yet, perhaps-the separations which had takenplace and I refer to the total of suchseparations, both those which weregradual, and those which were convul­sive in character-these separations leftgroups of evangelicals faced with thenecessity of building the church byevangelism rather than rescuing thechurch from the liberals.

The blueprint-the basis upon whichthe battle with the liberals had beenfought, had proved wanting in manyrespects. But this was not generallyrecognized. That same blue print­doctrinal basis-has proved less satis­facory still for the building of th-:church. It was weak in battle becauseit did not recognize the heart of theenemy-unbelief in the God of .theScripture. It was too weak to build thechurch because its lines did not uner­ringly point to the sovereign, triune,Creator of heaven and earth. In fact,evangelicalism proceeded to build thechurch, not as one might expect, ac­cording to one blueprint, but uncon­sciously according to many blueprints.As the years have moved by, and thebuilding of the church has continued,the carpenters have discovered that theirblueprints are not in agreement. Andthis has resulted in ruptures withinevangelicalism, coming to a head moreoften than not on relatively minorpoints. This has left evangelicalismdivided into major camps, with manysmaller divisions within the major ones.This is obviously weakness. But it ismore than weakness, it is sin.

Features of Current Evangelicalism

Having said this, let us look a littlecloser at the present status of evangeli­calism. We would point to three pres­ent movements, or trends. First, weare today witnessing a constant increaseof denominationalism. The anti - de-

91

nominational and inter-denominationalchurches are losing popularity. Oh, notthat such attitudes are dead, but thependulum is swinging the other way.People have come to feel--evangelicalshave come to feel-that "no creed butChrist" and "no book but the Bible," istoo loose. This looseness has caused alack of teamwork, lack of coherence,which dissipates effort. Dissatisfactionarose with the non-denominationalstress when differences became appar­ent on touchy points. This resulted inthe establishment of schools and missionboards to work along denominationallines, and this is still continuing, schoolsto train men in a particular denomina­tional milieu, and mission boards tocarry out evangelism in accordance withdenominational policy. Denominationsare drawing the lines more closely. Theyhave sought to unify their policies andorganize their local churches into work­ing units. We can expect this trend tocontinue. In some instances, whollyindependent churches, having becomedissatisfied with the isolationism ofwhich they were a part, have joineddenominational bodies. On the wholethis has brought a measure of strengthand stability to evangelicalism that wasnot to be attained under a whollyindependent status. On the other hand,weaknesses remain. While denomina­tionalism is proving itself strong andaggressive, its inherent weakness is thelack of a profession of unified doctrine,a confessional basis, except upon a fewpoints. And furthermore the absence ofagreement on the doctrine of God givesrise to differences on all doctrines, in­cluding ethics. This failure to take intoaccount seriously the doctrine of God,causes other differences to be magnifiedall out of proportion to their relativeimportance.

Think of the oddity of a peoplequarreling over the question of theprecise time at which the church willbe raptured in the eschatologicalscheme of events, (which in itself isimportant) but at the same time mani­festing an indifference to varying con­ceptions of the very Person of our God.Can a denomination hope to be stablewithout agreement on God.

Secondly, and parallel with the in­tensification of denominationalismabroad today, there are unprecedentedattempts to express a unity, to presenta united front, to work together asevangelicals. In some areas, strangelyas it may be, there is bitter competition

92

for adherence to express unity, Witnessthe National Association of Evangeli­cals and the American Council ofChurches. Now with all due respect forthe efforts that have been made tounite evangelicals to work for commongoals, and with all due respect for goodaccomplished, recognizing as well theill effects in some cases, these move­ments must be criticized on severalpoints, and only some of which we willmention.

(To be concluded)

Assembly(Continued from p. 86)

that the time has been well redeemedfor our Lord.

"As I have been elected liaison repn­senrative between the Orthodox Pres­byterian Church and the World HomeBible League, I therefore report to thechurch on behalf of the League. Thesole purpose of the League is the distri­bution of Bibles into Bible-less homes,and to engage in such activities as areneeded to raise the necessary funds topromote the work. No carnivals, raffies,bingo games, etc., are ever resorted toin raising money. A sincere Christiandoes not need to be ashamed of theLeague's activities. Distribution of Bi­bles is at an all time high. The requestsfar exceed the supply. Many of thedemands placed upon the League can­not be fulfilled. The League has oftenstepped forward trusting the Lord tosupply the necessary funds. Men oflittle faith would not dare to treadwhere these men have trod. Because ofthis I pray that The Orthodox Presby­terian Church will continue to increaseits support of the League to the best ofits ability. I realize that many of ourchurches, perhaps most of them, hav­a struggle to meet the needs withintheir own organizations. But I sincerelyhope that they will find a small spot intheir hearts for the World Home BibleLeague and the work which the Lordhas increased to such large proportions.Res~ctfully submitted. Edward F. Klo­kow.

Delegate to C. R. Synod

Dr. Ned B. Stonehouse reported asfraternal delegate to the 1954 Synod ofthe Christian Reformed Church. Hesaid:

"As fraternal delegate to the Synod

of th- Christian Reformed Churchmeeting in Grand Rapids in June, 1954I was present at most of the sessionsand enjoyed many opportunities offellowship with the Christian Reformedbrethren. Among the many courtesiesextended me was that of addressing theSynod. With a view to the strategicimportance of our common witness tothe Reformed Faith and the inevitableweakening of that testimony if basicmisunderstandings and tensions shoulddevelop, I sought to make a plea thatwe should strive, as far as possible, tomaintain cordial fellowship and cooper­ation. It is my judgment that we shouldcontinue to avail ourselves of the vari­ous opportunities for fruitful contactswith the Christian Reformed Church,its congregations and institutions, min­isters and other members, includingrepresentation at the annual synod."

Text of the Confession

For some years there has been aCommittee of the Assembly dealingwith the text and the proof-texts of theConfession of Faith. The report ofthis Committee, in fairly definitiveform, has been before the Assembly fortwo years. However, certain typograph­ical corrections of its report appearedneeded, and these were submitted tothe present Assembly.

A motion that the text, as thus finallycorrected, be submitted for approval bythe presbyteries, ran into a snag whenit was discovered that the Committeehad, through an inadvertance, failed totake account of a change which wasadopted at the second General As­sembly in 1936.

At a later point in the Assembly thefollowing motion was adopted:

"That this General Assembly proposeto the Presbyteries in accordance withthe Form of Government Chapter 26,Section 2, that the text of the Confes­sion of Faith as presented by the Com­mittee on Texts and Proof-texts to the18th General Assembly, and as cor­rected by the Committee on Accuracyof the Text of the Confession of Faithelected by the 21st General Assembly,be adooted as the text of the Confes­sion of Faith of The Orthodox Presby­terian Church, with the exception thatin Chapter 25 Section 6 the text shallread: 'There is no other head of theChurch but the Lord Jesus Christ. Norcan the Pope of Rome in any sense behead thereof,' in accordance with the

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action of the Second General Assembly.(See Minutes, Second General Assem­bly, pp. 13, 18)."

Christian Education

The Rev. Dr. Edward J. Young readthe report of the Committee on Chris­tian Education. The report is summar­ized as follows:

Publications: l.Vacation Bible SchoolMaterials. The materials this year, pub­lished under the trade name, "GreatCommission Publications," are the re­vised material of the year 1952. TheCommittee noted that in 1954 sales ofthis material were about the same as1953, but more through individual salesand less through trade channels. Forvarious reasons the Committee feelsthat its marketing will best be donethrough direct mail promotion aimed atthe customers, rather than throughtrade.

2. Books. The committee has fourbooks of its own. Sales last year were,of Murray-Christian Baptism, 181; ofMurray-Divorce, 246; of Young­Old Testament Prophecy, 245; of Bib­lical Evangelism Today, 180.

3. Carechetical materials. The Com­mittee published last year an editionof the Westminster Shorter Catechism,and has published two volumes of aworkbook on the Catechism. Two morevolumes of the workbook, to bringthis project to completion, are expectedby this fall. The first edition of theworkbooks (600 copies) was sold out,and a second edition has been printed.Miss Dorothy Partington preparedthese books, under the supervision ofthe Rev. Edmund P. Clowney.

4. Tracts. A number of old tractshave been reprinted, and a 2,500 copyedition of a new tract, "Are You aChristian?" by Lawrence Eyres, waspublished.

5. Other publications. The Commit­tee has also made available a new com­municant church-membership course,written by the Rev. Calvin Cummings,and reprinted the Communicant ChurchMembership booklet of the Rev. GeorgeMarston. It has provided "Bulletin"covers for use in local churches (cur­rent weekly sale of these is 5,000),and has publicized its activities in the"Messenger."

SUNDAY SCHOOL MATERIAL

With reference to Sunday schoolmaterials, the Committee reported that

June 15, 1955

two of its members had continued tomeet with the Sunday school committeeof the Christian Reformed Church dur­ing the past year, and had. been ~rac~­

ously received. However, It was indi­cated that the conviction had beengrowing that the aims and responsibil~­

ties of the two churches were SUffiCI­ently different in this field as to makeit desirable that eventually the Ortho­dox Presbyterian Church should haveits own series of materials.

The Committee recommended inthis connection that the consultationswith the Synodical Committee be dis­continued. However, the Assembly wasnot willing to terminate the relation­ship at this time. In the discussion, itappeared that the consultations hadbeen fruitful in a number of ways.Moreover there was a concern to main­tain this interchurch relationship. Andthere was a strong conviction that thechurch did not have the financial meansto produce its own Sunday sc~oo~ ma­terials and some of the men indicatedthey 'thought that since the Sundayschool materials of the Christian Re­formed church were acceptable, therewere other fields for the Committeeto stress, as catechetical and MachenLeague studies.

Finally the Assembly passed a mo­tion directing its Committee to pro­ceed as soon as possible in the prepara­tion and publication of Sabbath scho~l

materials. It is not expected that thiswill take place for several years, andthe relationship with the Christian Re­formed committee is being continued.

The Committee indicated it wasmaking definite arrangements to securea full-time secretary, but could makeno announcement as yet. As for publi­cation plans, the Committee is pre~ar­

ing additional units in the catecheticaland vacation Bible school programs,and is looking to a considerable en­largement of its tract series. A budgetof $28,000 was indicated for the c~m­

ing year, with $15,000 of this COmI?gthrough contributions and the remain­der through business income.

C. C. E. Elections

The Rev. Messrs. Calvin K. Cum­mings, John P. Galbraith, and WendellRockey and Ruling Elders DavidHenry and F. Kingsley Elder wereelected to the class of 1958 of theCommittee.

Home Missions

The report of the Committee .onHome Missions was next on the list.This Committee stated that during thepast year it had conducted or assistedwork in 19 fields throughout the coun­try. In four of these fields the work isnot yet at the point where a congrega­tion has been organized. In the othersthere is an organized congregation andthe missionary in the area has thestatus of a pastor or stated supply.

It was in connection with the HomeMissions report that the discussion con­cerning an assistant general secretarydeveloped. The committee reportedthat two men had been asked to takeon the assignment, but neither ~as a?leto accept the position. The dISCUSSIonindicated the conviction of some menthat the church was not ready for thistype of work, but that its future lay inthe work in and through local congre­gations. Others felt, however, that thechurch could not afford not to havesuch a man, to go out and make ~on­

tacts on behalf of the church in variousareas. The assembly took no action onthe matter, leaving it in the hands ofthe committee.

Taiwan Mission

. At this point the Assembly receiv~d

a cablegram of greetings from the mIS­sionaries on Formosa (Taiwan). Themessage read: "Fraternal Greetings,22nd General Assembly, The OrthodoxPresbyterian Church. First Corinthians15:58; Romans 15:30. Taiwan Mis­sion." The Scripture passages are,"Therefore, beloved brethren, be yesteadfast, unmoveable, always abound­ing in the work of the Lord, forasmuchas ye know that your labor is not invain in the Lord"; and "Now I beseechyou, brethren, for the Lord JesusChrist's sake, and for the love of theSpirit, that ye strive together "':~th mein your prayers to God for me.

Calvin University

It has been reported elsewhere thatthe buildings of "Calvin U~iversi~y"

are being erected, with mate~Ial beingsupplied by the U.S. Army, m Pusan,Korea. Mr. Arthur B. Spooner reportedbriefly on this project. A large numberof books are being packaged and sentto Korea for the University. MissionaryTheodore Hard is helping in the liaisonwork involved in the buildings. Mr.

93

Spooner asked the ministers to assumeresponsibitiry for about one book pack­age apiece, to spread our the work ofshipment and the cost of postage. Anumber of ministers went home witha package of books which will eventu­ally find its way to Korea.

I. C. C. C. Observer

The Rev. Robert S. Marsden re­ported briefly as "observer" at the Con­gress of the International Council ofChristian Churches, held in 1954 inElkins Park, Pa. The report was, in fact,so brief that a number of the commis­sioners asked for something more, andwere on the point of referring the re­port back to Mr. Marsden. However,in the discussion there was somethingin the nature of an informal requestfor a report also from Dr. Stonehouse,who had attended many sessions of theCongress. Dr. Stonehouse, in debatingthe motion, took occasion to report onhis own observations, and to indicatethat his attitude toward the I.C.C.C.would hardly be any more sympatheticthan that of Mr. Marsden. The resultwas that the motion to recommit wasdefeated, and the brief report allowedto stand.

Fraternal Delegate

The Rev. Oren Holtrop was presentas fraternal delegate from the ChristianReformed Church. He brought a briefaddress of greeting, and the Rev. Cal­vin K. Cummings made response forthe Assembly.

Next Assembly

One of the interesting features ofan Assembly is that of deciding whenand where the next Assembly will beheld. The report of the Committee onthis subject indicated that the As­sembly had five invitations for 1956.They were from Gordon College inBoston, Westminster Church of Val­dosta, Ga., First Church of ManhattanBeach, Calif., Bethel Church of Oost­burg, Wisc., and from the Presbyteryof the Dakotas for a meeting in Den­ver, Colo.

It was apparent that the Assemblywas in the mood to move away fromPhiladelphia next year, and the decisionwas finally made to have the Assemblyin Denver. Connected with this de­cision, however, was a necessary sum­mer date. The date finally set was forthe Assembly to convene on Thursdayevening, August 2, 1956, in Denver.

94

It is understood that a camp groundis available at that time (Not the sameas the one previously used by theAssembly) and that facilities will beexcellent.

Action on Overtures

The Committee appointed to dealwith certain overtures and papers re­ported. The overture from Californiathat the statistics record average Sundayschool attendance rather than enroll­ment was rejected. On the proposalfrom the Dakotas that the Assemblymeet every other year, the Assemblytook no action. Another request fromthe Dakotas that the statistics show theamount given by each church to themissions committees of the denomina­tion was also rejected. On this it wasfelt that such a reporting would be astep in the direction of attempting tocompel congregations to give to de­nominational causes. While the As­sembly hopes this will be the case, itdoes not favor the use of any sort ofcoercion to this end.

With reference to the communicationregarding correspondence with the Gen­eral Synod of the Reformed Presbyter­ian Church (Covenanters), it was de­cided to elect a committee of three,"tostudy the constitution of the ReformedPresbyterian Church of North America,and to report to the 23rd GeneralAssembly its findings as to the mostpracticable procedure with regard toboth method and subject matter whichwill facilitate agreement between theReformed Presbyterian Church ofNorth America and the Orthodox Pres­byterian Church as to Scriptural Stand­ards of Doctrine, government, disci­pline and worship, with the ultimateobjective of possible union betweenthe two bodies." The clerk was instruc­ted to report this action to the chairmanof the committee of the other church.Those elected to the committee werethe Rev. Messrs. Woolley, Cummings,and Stonehouse.

W orId Council

Regarding the communication fromthe Reformed Churches of New Zeal­and, criticizing the Reformed Ecumeni­cal Synod for not taking a clear standagainst membership in the WorldCouncil of Churches, the Assemblyadopted this reply:

"The Orthodox Presbyterian Churchis deeply touched by the warm greet­ings from their hard pressed brethrenin the faith that constitute the Re-

formed Churches in New Zealand. Itis our judgment that the cautions ex­pressed by that body to the memberchurches of the Reformed EcumenicalSynod with reference to membershipin the Wodd Council of Churches arefitting. We would urge upon thechurches which are our fellow membersin the Reformed Ecumenical Synodthe great dangers which are entailedby membership in a body such as theWorld Council of Churches where in­difference to and denial of the truthsset forth in Holy Scripture areso wide­spread. We hope that earnest heed willbe given to the warnings on this mat­ter already expressed by the ReformedEcumenical Synod. Moreover it is theconviction of this General Assemblythat membership in the World Councilis inconsistent with membership in theReformed Ecumenical Synod."

The last sentence of the above para­graph was added by the Assembly tothe committee recommendation. It wasrecalled that delegates of The OrthodoxPresbyterian Church had been membersof a committee of the R.E.S. which hadurged the Synod to take such a clearcutstand. The Assembly wished it clearthat for its part, it had no sympathywith membership in the World Council.

Other ChurchesThe Committee on Correspondence

with other churches reported on rela­tions with the Eureka Classis of theReformed Church in the U. S., and withthe Reformed Churches of New Zeal­and.

Concerning the former it recom­mended that efforts be continued toestablish close relations. Though thecommittee itself had not made muchprogress with Eureka, it appeared thatseveral men of the church had beenin fairly close touch with that group,and also that a graduate of WestminsterSeminary in this year's class, Mr. Nor­man Hoeflinger, had accepted a call tobecome pastor of two churches in theEureka Classis.

Concerning the invitation of theNew Zealand church, that the OrthodoxPresbyterian Church enter into corre­sponding relationship with that body,the committee recommended that thisbe done, and the Assembly approved.

The Committee on correspondencewith other churches was continued,and its members are Messrs. Marsden,Stonehouse and VanTil.

A proposal that the Assembly in­dicate to the Protestant Reformed

The Presbyterian Guardian

Churches of America its desire to ex­plore areas of interest and agreementwas defeated. The mover of the motionstated he was talking of the "De Wolfe"faction, but it was the opinion of theAssembly that the situation in thatparticular movement was not suffici­ently stabilized for this Assembly tomake such a positive approach.

HymnalThe Committee on a Hymnal next

reported. Earlier in the year it had dis­tributed in the church a revised andsupplementary list of hymns it wasconsidering. There are now some 710hymns on the working list. It is con­templated that most of these will appearin the final report. There may possiblybe a final report next year. The Com­mittee contemplates including in thehymnal when it appears these addi­tional materials - responsive readingsfrom the Psalms; text of the Confessionof Faith and Catechisms; questionsprescribed for reception of members,baptismal vows, ordination of ministers,elders, and deacons; and the Ten Com­mandments together with their NewTestament summary.

It was stated that the cost of evena small edition of the hymnal wouldbe large, and the committee was author­ized to solicit from the congregationsa contribution in the amount of $1per communicant member during thecoming year, to start the publicationfund. Publication will have to be sub­sidized by the church.

In discussion of the hymnal, a motionwas made that the responsive readingsbe omitted. The chief reason for thisseemed to be that having such readingsin the hymnal detracts from the use ofthe Bible for this purpose. Other argu­ments were also advanced. However,the Assembly rejected this proposal, andas of the present responsive readingswill be in the hymnal.

ComplaintOn Friday evening, just before ad­

journment for the day, the report ofthe committee appointed to hear theComplaints in the Sloyer matter waspresented for information. The care­fully prepared report indicated thejudgment of the committee that therehad been irregularities in the Presbyteryof Philadelphia in connection with cer­tain meetings dealing with the Slayermatter, but that these were not suffi­cient to invalidate the ordination itself.In regard to the second complaint, that

June 15, 1955

against the doctrinal posmons of Mr.Slayer, the Committee held that therewas not sufficient evidence available todecide the matter, since there was norecord of the ordination examination.Hence the Committee recommended noaction on this complaint. When thisreport was dealt with later, its recom­mendations were substantially accepted.

Pension

The Committee on Pensions re­ported that during the past year theU.S. Congress had amended the SocialSecurity Act so as to make its benefitsavailable to ministers on a voluntarybasis. The Committee recommendedthat ministers take immediate steps tojoin the Social Security plan, that localcongregations assist the ministers tomeet the payments involved in partici­pation in the plan, and that the Com­mittee be continued in order to studyfurther both the significance of theSocial Security program, and the pos­sibility of a church pension system tosupplement social security benefits.

In the discussion it appeared that anumber in the Assembly were opposedto the church taking a positive positionregarding the Social Security program,described by some as "socialism." Inthe end the Assembly limited itself to"calling the attention of the ministersto the provisions" of the program andreminding them that if they wished toavail themselves of it they must filewith the local social security office. TheCommittee was continued to further itsstudy of the matter of pension help forministers.

Form of Government

The Committee on the Revision ofthe Form of Government presented arevised edition of its proposed "Ver­sion" of the revised Form, and recom­mended that sessions and presbyteriesgive study to this new proposal duringthe coming year.

There was some disappointment thatthe Committee was not yet preparedto come in with a final report, and arecommendation for its adoption. Suchaction had been intimated even for theprevious Assembly, and the continuingdelays were confusing. It was felt bysome that if the Committee was goingto submit a revised proposal each year,there was not much point in the reportof one year being given extensivestudy on the local level. But the Com­mittee insisted that the changes, thoughnumerous, were not basic. The type and

principles of government were the samein last year's and this year's reports.

It was apparent that there was con­siderable disagreement in the Assemblywith certain of the provisions of theproposed Form, especially as they re­lated to term eldership and the relationof elders and ministers. It is by nomeans clear at the present time thatthe Assembly will in the end go alongwith the Committee proposals, but thiswill not be determined until a finalreport is presented.

The Assembly directed sessions andpresbyteries to study this report andother reports issued by the committeeduring the year, and to forward sug­gestions for changes to the Committee.

During the discussion it appearedthat there were now two rather distinctviewpoints represented on the Com­mittee. When the question of continu­ing the committee came up, two mem­bers indicated a willingness to resign.However the Assembly rejected thisidea, and the Committee was continuedas now constituted.

Complaints

On Saturday afternoon the Assemblytook up consideration of the complaintsin the Slayer case. The first complaintwas against actions of the Presbytery ofPhiladelphia on July 19, 1954, whencertain motions which had a majoritysupport were declared lost because theywere or involved actions rescindingprevious decisions, and required a two­thirds vote to carry; and against actionsof certain members of Presbytery onJuly 25, when they declared themselvesa regularly constituted meeting of thepresbytery and proceeded to the ordi­nation service.

The first question here was whetherthe notice of intention to enter a com-

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lain John Betzold an observer for aforthcoming International Conferenceon Reformed Faith and Action to beheld in Europe; also appointed Chap­lain Betzold a fraternal delegate to theSynod of the Gereformeerde Kerken inthe Netherlands, if he can attend; ap­pointed the Rev. George Marston fra­ternal delegate to the Christian Re­formed Synod; continued its liaisonrepresentative with the W orId HomeBible League; and adopted a GeneralAssembly Budget amounting to 50cents per communicant member duringthe current year.

The Assembly finally adjournedshortly before 11 p.m. Monday evening,to meet in 1956 in Denver, Colorado.

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The Presbyterian Guardian is a monthly magazine committed to stating, defending, andpromoting orthodox Presbyterianism as set forth in the Westminster Confession of Faith.

In other matters, the Assembly heardthe report of its Committee on GeneralBenevolence, and approved the takingof an offering for this work in localcongregations, and the placing of theCommittee on local church budgets inthe amount of 50 cents per communi­cant member; set up a committee con­sisting of Ministers 1. Knowles, D.Schowalter and H. Peterson of the Pres­bytery of California to investigate theScouting movement; appointed Chap-

Other Actions

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Dear sirs:Enclosed find $2.50 for which please send The Presbyterian

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Change of N arne

In the closing hours of the AssemblyMonday evening there was a brief butsomewhat heated discussion of the over­rure proposing consideration of chang­ing the name of the denomination.Those in favor of a possible changecited two chief reasons-that the useof the term "Orthodox" resulted inoccasional confusion with "EasternOrthodox" groups (one minister toldof having the members of the DonCossack Chorus come into his morningworship service-they were looking forSt. Anthony's Orthodox Church), andsecondly that the name suggested acertain spirit of pride and of "havingarrived." Those opposed to the changeheld that the name indicated clearlywhat the church sought to be, and itsconfidence that in its theology it heldthe truth as set forth in Scripture. Ofthis the church should not be ashamed,nor should it back down from thisposition and claim.

It was finally decided to ask thepresbyteries to consider the matter dur­ing the year, but there is no requestfor any reporting to the next Assembly.

plaint, given at the May 1954 meetingof Presbytery, was tantamount to anotice of intent to enter a motion torescind at the next meeting, in whichcase the two-thirds rule did not apply.The Assembly by a large majority heldthat this was the case, and that the Mod­erator of Philadelphia Presbytery hadbeen in error on July 19 in ruling themotions to rescind lost, when actuallythey had a majority support in themeeting.

The second question concerned theaction of the Presbytery in failing toadjourn to meet at the time previouslydecided on for the ordination service.Presbytery simply adjourned sine die,after having failed to pass a motion toadjourn to meet on July 25. Thus thetime and place of ordination had beendetermined at the May meeting, butat no time did Presbytery formally calla meeting to be held at that time andplace.

The Assembly passed the following'motion: "With respect to the secondground of complaint, this General As­sembly declares that though the actionsof the Presbytery at its meeting July19, and particularly its failure to voteto adjourn to meet on July 25 for thepurpose of ordaining and installing Mr.Slayer, made the meeting of July 25irregular, nevertheless the latter was avalid meeting of the Presbytery, and itsaction in ordaining Mr. Slayer validlyexecuted." The Assembly also criticizedthe Presbytery for not adjourning onJuly 19 to meet to execute business ithad previously approved, and criticizedthe actions of the presbytery on July 25for considering the decisions of Mayasa sound basis for convening. Bothactions the Assembly characterized as"imprudent."

The second complaint, on a doctrinalSasis, vras rejected. The Committee re­port on this declared that the Assemblydid not possess adequate evidence toadjudicate the issue, and the Assemblyagreed with this view, as there wasnot available any transcript of the or­dination examination of Mr. Sloyer.

Subsequently a motion was made thatthe Assembly appoint a committee toinvestigate the teachings and practicesof the Peniel movement, with whichthe whole issue in the Sloyer case wasclosely associated. This motion was de­feated, and it seems that the subject isnow closed, so far as any official actionin the church is concerned.

96 The Presbyterian Guardian