Oclobel' 15, 1956Vol. 25, No.9

'&~4~GUARDIAN

CONTENTS

Cross or Crescent in EgyptBy Clarence W. DuD

Are You Interested in Missions?By LeRoy B. Oliver

Non-ecumenical ChristiansBy Cornelius Van Til

Let's Stop HRethinking" !By Edward ]. Young

Editorials,. News

The Presbyterian Guardian is published monthly, except August, by the Presbyterian Guardian Publishing Corporation, 728 Schoff Building, 1505 RoceStreet. Philadelphia 2. Po., at the followinq rates, payable In advance for either old or new subscribers in any port of the world, postage prepaid:$2.50 per year; $1.00 for four months; 25¢ per Single copy. Entered as second closs matter March 4 1937 at the Post Office at Philadelphia underthe Act of March 3, 1879. ' , ,

Meditation

Confession, and ChristianFellowship

"If we say that we have no sin, we de­ceive ourselves, and the truth is not inus. If we confess our sins, he is faithfuland righteous to forgive us our sins,and to cleanse us from all unrighteous­ness." - I JOHN 1:8-9.

When Adam sinned, he was oustedfrom the garden of Eden. This is elo­quent testimony to the sobering truththat sin disrupts communion with God,and that so long as we are burdenedwith guilt we will continue banished.

This is a frightening fact. It has in itthe seeds of despair. By nature we willnot face it. We will rather try to denyoutright that we have sinned and areguilty, "sitting in darkness and underthe shadow of death." We will makevirtues of our vices. We will defendour crimes as commendable conduct.Our sins we will call service to God.If our guilt still shows through theclothes in which we dress it, then we willjust say that it is a matter of no im­portance.

This is an old approach to our prob­lem of guilt. It was introduced by thevery first sinners. It may be called thefig leaf philosophy of justification, sinceit was the thought in the mind ofAdam when he made his first coat.

But antiquity adds nothing to its vir­tues. It is still hopelessly ineffective.Adam could not hide his shame. Godsaw through his covering. And we onlymanage to deceive ourselves when wesay that we have no sin. "Positive Think­ing" is quite powerless to vaporize guilt.

This idea only increases our guilt. Weadd a lie to our offenses. The truth isnot allowed to rule in us.

Adam did not feel secure even in hiscovering of leaves. In fear he shrank intothe woods from the presence of God.The guilty cannot fellowship with God.

There is hope for the guilty. But itis held out not to concealment anddenial, but to confession. This is theplan of God. And it brings peace to theconscience and praise to God, because itagrees with truth and justice.

Our fellowship with God cannot bedivorced from agreement about ourtrue condition. We must see ourselvesas he sees us. And neither can our condi­tion be corrected until it is admitted.

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A man will not repair the roof of hishouse until he believes it leaks. Re­sources are not lacking in Christ tojustify and cleanse the guilty. His perfectobedience and his atoning death willmake the vilest clean and set the captivesfree, when they put their trust in him.But who will trust him without believ­ing himself lost? To the righteous hecan do no good. His ministry is for sin­ners.

The sacrifice of Christ is rejected bysome as a primitive pagan invention,r·epugnant to a more enlightened genera­tion. These have no ears for the call torepentance since they think they aremoving upward by the irresistible powerof the good within them. They profess tohonor Jesus as a teacher and to be hisdisciples. But they accept his instructiononly so far as it agrees with theirs. Andso they make of him a kind of effectivespokesman for their point of view.

But this kind of obeisance to Christleaves them strangers to his fellowship,since they will not take seriously thethought of their guilt. If we would knowGod as faithful and just to forgive andcleanse, we must be frank to admit whatis to be taken away. We will know himonly as our dreadful Judge so long aswe ihide behind our own flimsy barri­cades and try to conceal our true identitybehind transparent camouflages. Ourbones will waste away in misery and ourmoisture will dry up as with the droughtof summer. God's hand will be heavyupon us in our silence, and we will pineaway in the Valley of Death.

But he will make us to lie down ingreen pastures and lead us by the stillwaters, when we confess our sins. Good­ness and mercy will follow us all thedays of our life, and we will dwell inthe house of the Lord for ever.

HENRY P. TAVARES

Westminster SeminaryBegins 28th Year

WESTMINSTER Theological Seminaryin Philadelphia opened for its 28th

academic year on Wednesday, Septem­ber 26, with formal exercises held inCalvary Orthodox Presbyterian Churchadjacent to the campus.

Seventy-two students are enrolled, in­cluding 15 Juniors, 24 Middlers, 19Seniors, ten Graduate students, and fourwho are listed as special or partial. Ofthese students 13 are from countriesother than the United States, including

seven from the Orient.Professor Cornelius Van Til, Chair­

man of the Faculty, presided at the open­ing service, and gave an address of wel­come to the incoming students. TheRev. LeRoy Oliver, Associate Secretaryfor Home Missions of the OrthodoxPresbyterian Church offered the invo­cation, the Rev. George Weeber, pastorof First Reformed Church of Philadel­phia read the Scripture, the Rev. Clar­ence \X'. Duff, missionary to Eritrea ofthe Orthodox Presbyterian Church It'din prayer, and the address for the occa­sion was given by the Rev. Fred C.Kuehner, Th.D., Professor of BiblicalLanguages in Reformed Episcopal Sem­inary, Philadelphia.

Dr. Kuehner's address was on the sub­jeer, "Preaching Amid Pressures." UsingColossians 1:28-9 as his text, Dr. Kueh­ner pictured four elements of apostolicpreaching which he said were still car­dinal elements in present day preaching.Such preaching must have as its exclu­sive theme Christ as He is presented inScripture, the divine living Son of Godand Saviour of men; it must be char­acterized by a definite procedure ofwarning and of teaching, for its concernis both doctrine and ethics; it must haveever the specific goal of presenting everyman perfect before God; and it can becarried out only through that divineenabling which is provided by thepower and presence of the Holy Spirit.

Following the opening service, thosepresent went to Machen Hall for thetraditional reception and tea.

Hiemstra Called toPine Rest

CHAPLIN WILLIAM 1. HIEMSTRA ofthe Christian Sanatorium of Wyck­

off has announced that he is resigningthat position at the end of the year, toaccept a similar position at the PineRest Hospital and Sanatarium in GrandRapids, Michigan. Pine Rest, like theWyckoff institution, is directed by anassociation whose membership includespeople in the Reformed and ChristianReformed churches. Mr. Hiemstra willserve as a co-chaplain with the Rev.Ralph Heynen of the Christian Reform­ed Church. Pine Rest cares for some 600patients.

In addition to his Wyckoff duties, Mr.Hiemstra has for several years given acourse in pastoral psychiatry at West­minster Theological Seminary.

The Presbyterian Guardian !

Cross or Crescenl in EgyplUnited Presbyterian Church Faced with Decision

On Teaching Mohammedanism in Schools

TH E FOREIGN MISSION BOARD ofone of the great missionary

churches of the modern mission move­ment has agreed that in its missionschools in Egypt the frankly anti­Christian religion of Islam shall betaught to the people it first sent itsmissionaries to convert.

Over a hundred years ago when theEgypt mission of the United Presby­terian Church was established one ofits main objectives was the conversionof Moslems to Christianity. Its earlymissionaries and those who succeededthem believed that Christ's honor andclaims had been usurped by Moham­med, that men were going to destruc­tion because they followed the falseprophet, and that the only way theycould be saved was through faith inthe Lord Jesus Christ as He was of­fered to them in the Gospel. They sawin the Koran the outright denial orutter distortion of the great facts anddoctrines of the Bible and Christianity,and in Islam the great deceptive coun­terfeit of the truth that kept men frometernal life and led them to hell.

But this summer the successors ofthose early giants of the: faith seemed tous to capitulate to the forces of Islam.Mission Board, missionaries, and theNational Evangelical Churoh in Egyptconsented to let the Crescent of Islamshare the place of honor with the Crossin their schools by agreeing to complywith the Government's order requiringall schools to teach the Islamic religionto Moslem students.

If it seems incredible that any Chris­tian church or mission should thusconsent to allow a false religion along­side the Christian faith, it appearsfrom some of the arguments given toease the consciences of many in theEgyptian Mission and the Ghurch, thatthis is but the final step-s-albeit a fatalone-in a long series of smaller com­promises.

But whatever the process by whichthe present has been reached, the stepthat has now been taken ought to shock

October 15, 1956

By CLARENCE W. DUFF

all true Christians in the United Presby­terian Church out of any complacency.It ought to drive them - and trueChristians everywhere - to urgentprayer that this church which for over acentury has labored so valiantly tobring the gospel of Christ to Egyptand other lands may rouse itself toprotest and reverse this fateful de­cision, a decision about which many of

The Rev. Clarence W. Duff is amissionary of The Orthodox Presby­terian Church serving in Eritrea. Insending us the article given here, hewrites: "lowe a very great debt tothe United Presbyterian Church.From early childhood the little UnitedPresbyterian Church that had beenmy mother's and was my grand­mother's had almost as great a partin my Christian training as did ourown Presbyterian Church. Certainlymy knowledge of and interest inChristian missions were nurtured inthe United Presbyterian Church morethan in my own. Through a UnitedPresbyterian college, through one oftheir missionary conferences, throughmy uncle (for many years a U. P.missionary in Egypt) and throughother missionaries I met in my grand­father's home I became vitally inter­ested in their missionary work. Andfrom firsthand acquaintance with thework of their missionaries on someof their foreign fields I have acquiredan admiration for much that has beendone there. It is because lowe thatChurch so much that I write whatfollows.

"Besides this, the duty of anyChristian to the Church Catholic doesnot allow him to take the attitude ofCain when he said, 'Am 1 my brother'skeeper?' To fulfill the law of Christ,Christian brethren not only in onecommunion but in different commun­ions must bear one another's burdens.

"Again, decisions such as that ar­rived at by the United Presbyteriansin Egypt have the gravest conse­quences for other missions in thatcountry and in neighboring states,especially in work among Moslems. Aprecedent has been set, and it will notfail to be noticed by other authoritiesseeking to curtail the advance of theChristian faith among Islamic peoples.

"It is for the peace of Jerusalemthat 1 write, and pray."

the missionaries are undoubtedly heart­sick, a decision to which they werepersuaded to agree by dubious argu­ments, a decision that can mean onlyignominy and disgrace to the cause ofChrist in Egypt and in every landwhere an attempt is being made tobring the Gospel of Christ to Moslems.

What Decision MeansConsider briefly what the decision of

the Board means. It means in plainlanguage that schools known as Chris­tian schools will teach a false religion.The false religion which is to be taughtis not one like Hinduism or Taoism orShintoism or other varieties of pagan­ism which have nothing directly to sayabout Christ, the Bible, or Christian­ity (though they implicitly contradictChristianity and teach all manner oferror). Rather it is the religion ofIslam, the avowed and open enemy ofChristianity, its great counterfeit andpowerful opponent. Islam flatly deniesChristian truth. It denies that Jesusis the Son of God. It teaches that Henever died. It says that the ChristianScriptures have long since becameutterly unreliable and corrupt. Itplaces Mohammed above Jesus Christas the last and greatest of God'sprophets. It claims that the Koran isthe infallible Word of God. It believesChristians are destined to an eternalhell andthat a Moslem who embracesthe Christian faith should be killed,according to the Moslem law of apos­tasy (still in some lands carried outwhere possible). No religion couldbe more anti-Christian. No religionhates and despises Christianity morefervently. And no religion leaves itsfollowers more hopeless. None makesthem more indifferent to the truth, orputs a greater obstacle in the way oftheir listening to the Good News ofGod's grace.

And this is the religion that theUnited Presbyterian Church proposesto allow in her schools alongsideof the Christian faith. Surely she doesnot realize the monstrous thing she isdoing. Surely she will yet recoil fromtaking this fateful step and will repentof such imminent unfaithfulness to herLord.

Arguments AdvancedLook now at the reasons given by

those who have led the missionariesand the Egyptian Church to their de­cision to comply with the Govern­ment's demands.

HI

Missionaries Egbert Andrews of Formosa and Clarence Duff of Eritrea atDenver Assembly. They are now some 10,000 miles apart, Mr. Duff being onfurlough in Pennsylvania and Mr. Andrews having returned to Formosa.

1) Moslem sheikhs, a Board secre­tary says, have for some time been em­ployed by the mission schools to teachthe Koran in connection with the in­struction in Arabic grammar. Andwhen Moslem students were enrolledin the Mission school, the school hadrequired the parents to sign a state­ment making them responsible for thechild's trainin.g in the Islamic faithoutside of school. And before this theMission had complied with a law whichforbade the teaching of any religionother than that of the pupil's parents.What is now required, it is said, isonly a little more in the same direction.

But, this just shows the "softeningup" process that has been employed.And the step now taken is a very largeone, and much more obviously wrong,even, than the others. Surely, the factthat sinful compromises and conces­sions have been agreed to in the pastis no reason why compromise should becontinued and extended. Rather, itshould be clearly evident now to whata sad conclusion the former steps haveled, and the course of compromiseshould be arrested.

2) No Christian, it is said, will beasked to teach the Islamic religion.The Islamic sheikhs will teach it. Noone is being asked to deny his faith.

But - it seems that the Egyptiangovernment officials suggested thisidea, and it has been grasped andadopted by many in the church. Doesthe fact that the Islamic religion istaught by a Moslem mean that theschool is cleared of responsibility forteaching a false religion? The ideathat a school is responsible for what­ever is taught in it, by teachers em­ployed by it, with its consent andunder its auspices, is something onewould never expect to hear questioned.If anything, the fact that the teachingis done by a Moslem makes the caseeven more serious. For, being taughtin this way, the Islamic religion isbeing presented with a view to thepupils being confirmed in it, not thatthey might see its fallacies and beturned from it. A United Presbyteriancollege in America might present acourse on Communism, in order thatthe students might become acquaintedwith it and recognize its fallacies. Butif a United Presbyterian college em­ployed a Communist to teach Com­munism, with a view to convincingthe pupils of its truth, or of confirm­ing them in that conviction - such a

procedure would be condemned by anyright-thinking Christian. A UnitedPresbyterian school in Egypt mightpresent a course on Islam, for the pur­pose of acquainting the pupils withthe false teaching of that religion(though it probably could not do sonow without getting in trouble). Butthe present program is to have a Mos­lem sheikh teach a course in the Is­lamic religion, so that the pupils takingthe course will be confirmed Moslems.Is this not forsaking the very purposeof Christian missionary endeavor?

3) It is said that the Christian at­mosphere of the school, with its pre­dominance of Christian students, willimpress the Moslem student, who can­not help comparing it with the teach­ing received from the Moslem sheikh.

But, what has been conceded is thatthe Moslem faith is suitable to betaught in a Christian school. Thethesis, so prevalent today, that itdoesn't matter too much what one's re­ligion is, so long as he has a religion,is being encouraged. The Moslem stu-

dent may admire many things aboutChristianity, and may even prefer tostudy in a "Christian atmosphere," buthe is not likely to feel any great urgen­cy to become a Christian. The exclu­s;veness of the Christian faith has beenobscured; Christ as the only "Way"repudiated.

4) It is said that the schools must becontinued in order to keep contact withthe Moslems, and to have a place forchildren of Christian families to go.lf the mission refuses to comply withthe law, the schools will be confiscated,and turned inro government schools.

But, this argument is based on theassumption that it is right to do evilthat good may come. The apostle Paulwas reported to have said this, buthe replied that the charge was slander.The Word of God never teaches this.The only question is, Is it right orwrong to teach a false, Christ denyingreligion? If it is wrong, no good canever come of it. When Saul tried tojustify his sin by saying to Samuel,"the people took ... to sacrifice unto

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132 The Presbyterian Guardian

Al'e You Inlel'esled in Missions?

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the Lord ...", Samuel replied, 'Toobey is better than sacrifice . . . Be­cause thou hast rejected the Word ofthe Lord, He hath rejected thee ..."Can a school which compromises andteaches an anti-Christian faith be longercalled a Christian school? Can we nottrust God to make a way for our chil­dren's education, if we are boldly trueto the faith? As for those of Islamicfaith, schools are not the only, nornecessarily the best contact the missionmay have with them. And surely theMoslems will have greater respect forthe Christian faith, if the Christianswho profess to believe it really do be­lieve it, and insist on its finality andexclusiveness.

5) Spokesmen for the United Pres­byterian Board of Foreign Missions,in seeking to justify their decisions,have quoted Romans 13: 1 - "Thepowers that be are ordained of God."

No Christian will deny that thegovernment of Egypt is included in thatstatement. But what is required of aChristian as to compliance with gov­ernment decrees? Must he obey gov­ernments, even though that means dis­obeying God? Hardly! The Biblemakes it abundantly clear that oneshould never do wrong, regardless ofwho commands it.

King Nebuchadnezzar commandedShadrach, Meshach, and Abednego toworship the image of gold, on penaltyof death. They refused. They did notresist when they were thrown bodilyinto the fiery furnace. But one likeunto the Son of Man walked withthem, and they came forth unharmed.Daniel refused to obey the decree ofDarius regarding praying to anotherthan the king. He did not protest whenhe was cast to the lions. Peter and Johnrefused to obey the Jewish authoritieswho commanded them not to speak inthe name of Jesus.

6) And finally, it is said that theSynod of the Nile, the missionaries,and the Board reached their decisiononly after long and earnest prayer.There were just two alternatives ­comply with the decree, and stay; orrefuse to comply, and go. There wasjust one thing to do, seek God's willin prayer.

Now we should pray always, espe­cially in times of great crisis. But wemay never pray that God will allow usto do what He has declared in HisWord to be sinful. In response toprayer God gives no new revelations.

October 15, 1956

His Word remains the infallible ruleof faith and practice. It seems un­thinkable that any Christian, knowingthat Word, could believe for a minutethat it is not sinful to bring into aChristian school a false teacher teach­ing that Jesus was not the Son of Godnor even as great as Mohammed(whose moral character was so low ithad to be justified even for paganArabs by "special revelation.")

Shadrach and his companions neededto pray for strength to face the conse­quences of disobeying the king's un-

WH EN AN OLD FARMER was urgedto buy a set of books on scientific

farming, he refused, saying, "Sir, I don'tfarm half as good as I know how now."In a day when many worship at theshrine of techniques the Christian churchalso seeks better methods of bringingthe gospel to the world. But likethe farmer we are not doing as well aswe know how. It is possible that insearch of better ways for evangelizingwe have come to depend more on plansthan on power. Forms of godliness with­out power are an abomination. But, ofcourse, it is not a question of eithermethods ormotivating force but of both.

It may be well for us in the twentiethcentury to look back to Paul of thefirst century. We should be concernednot just to see how he preached-thoughapostolicexample laysdown certain basicprinciples-but to examine what drovehim to such indefatigable, self-forgetfullabor in the gospel. The answer is partlyfound in Romans I: 14-16 "I am debtorboth to the Greeks and to the Bar­barians; both to the wise, and to theunwise. So, as much as in me is, I amready to preach the gospel to you thatare at Rome also. For I am not ashamedof the gospel of Christ: for it is the pow­er of God unto salvation to everyonethat believeth; to the Jew first, and alsoto the Greek." In the first place, Paulfelt himself under obligation to makeknown the gospel to all nations and toall classes of men. Secondly, he preachedthis gospel everywhere because he wasconvinced that this message alone wasable to bring deliverance to the souls

righteous edict, but they didn't haveto pray to know what was right. Tothe king they said simply, "We willnot serve thy gods, nor worship thegolden image," and they trusted Godto overrule the consequences.

Is the Word of God not clear con­cerning the situation in Egypt? Surelyit is. Surely to teach a false religion issinful.

Consider II John verses 9-11:"Whosoever transgresseth and abidethnot in the doctrine of Christ, hath not

(See "Cross or Crescent," p. 144)

By LEROY B. OLIVER

of men.It is possible to be invited and urged

to do a task, and to perform that workeven though one's heart is not in it.Drudgery may be the result. But to takeup a work to which you not only havea call but also have an inward com­pulsion is to labor under the mostfavorable circumstances. Paul was di­vinely commissioned to be an apostle,but along with God's call there washis own response to the task. It was anecho of the words of the Saviour "Imust work the works of him that sentme, while it is day: the night cometh,when no man can work." Paul just hadto preach. He said, "Necessity is laidupon me, Woe is unto me if I preachnot the gospel." And these words arereminiscent of Jeremiah's, "His word wasin mine heart as a burning fire withinmy bones, and I was weary in for­bearing, and I could not stay."

Sad to say, such consecration seemsto be missing from the experience ofmany church members today. Body andsoul commitment to principles and pro­gram is evidenced in our day by theCommunists in the political sphere andby cults and so-called fringe groups inthe religious field. Too often the epithet"fanatic" is hurled at the person whohas a heart-felt calling to witness forChrist. Materialism and conformity toconvention bind the soul when the be­liever rshould be enjoying the freedomand delight of God-given duty. Heroicsacrifices, such as made by five martyredmissionaries to the Aucas, rise out ofthe sense of obligation to make known

133

Non-ecumenical Chl'istiansAddress of Welcome to Westminster Seminary Students

By C. VANTIL

the riches I,of Christ to those who willnever know of Him in any other way.

How impressive is the account of theeagerness of the early church to preachthe gospel and win men to Christ. Thisdid not arise from a half-hearted at­tempt to obey a command, but expresseda desire to make known what the dis­ciples had heard, seen, and handled ofthe Word of Life. One writer, BryanGreen, says, "They were new men inChrist, and so vividly had the newnessof life stirred them that they simplyhad to try to pass it on."

How may we revive that sense ofurgency today? It is not enough to singnostalgically

"Where is the blessedness I knewWhen first I saw the LordWhere is the soul-refreshing viewOf Jesus and His Word?"

With the Greek and the Barbarian atour doorstep in the person of a paganneighbor or a sceptical business associatethe mission field is before our eyes. Letthe truth of modern man's sinful condi­tion amid all his boasted civilizationand our own key position as the bearersof good tidings go beyond intellectualassent. Paul and those missionaries whofollow in his train humbly, but surely,know themselves as having in theirpossession what the world desperatelyneeds.

Let us begin by personally praying forgrace to witness for Christ. Instead ofgeneralization in prayer for the mission­aries at home and abroad, let us ask Godto fill our own hearts with a sense ofthe urgency of the missionary task. Letus pray as we sing,

"Send men whose eyes have seen theKing,

Men in whose ears His sweet wordsring;

Send such Thy lost ones home to bring;Send them where Thou wilt come."

The consecration of Paul to Christ inthe preaching of the Word was com­bined with an assurance that the messagehe proclaimed was true. The gospelwas not a "cunningly devised fable." Itwas the power of God unto Salvation toeveryone who believed. Rome, the cen­ter of culture, did not frighten Paul.The philosophers and sceptics of MarsHill and Corinth did not force him tohedge. There was no doubt in Paul'smind that his message was the onlyeffective remedy for man's fatal diseaseof sin.

We are all aware of the fact that sue-

134

cessful salesmen must believe in theirproduct. This also holds for those whowould bring the gospel of God's graceto men. We may not allow the relativ­ism of the day with its vapid toleranceof all religions as being good and prof­itable for men's souls to influence ourthinking. A native of India visited Eng­land and said after visiting some of thechurches, "The saddest thing I noticein the English Church is her lack offaith in the supernatural power of God."Undoubtedly this may be said of manychurches in this land also.

The Orthodox Presbyterian Churchis happily confessing the truth of theWord of God, the Bible. Yet we maysometimes feel incapable of vigorouslyconfronting men with the Christian mes­sage because of their conditioning bymodern science and unbelief. There isno reason for hestitation. We may notunderstand the mysterious ways in whichGod performs His wonders, but that Hedoes save the soul by the foolishness ofpreaching we may not doubt. The worldhas seen philosophies of men come andgo. Empires rise and fall and movementsfade with the passing of time. But whenthe words of Paul and Silas "Believe onthe Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt besaved, and thy house" are heeded poweris at work which man cannot duplicate,with all his knowledge.

I T IS NOW MY PRIVILEGE to address afew words of welcome to the students

that are coming to us for the first time.I do so in the name of the faculty.

We welcome you, of course, to ourfellowship. We should like, each oneof us, to be your personal friends. Weshould like to be among those to whomyou go with your personal interests andproblems.

But, more basically, we welcome youto a fellowship of service of Jesus Christour Lord. It is he, whose ,we are andwhom we serve, whose you also are andwhom you also serve. It is him whomall of us would serve with increasingdevotion. We would learn to know himbetter in order to love him more. Wewould learn more of his wondrous con­descension shown in coming into ourworld of sin and woe, there to humble

Assurance concerning this messagewill not come without the study of God'sWord. Nor can we personally testifyto the power of the gospel unless wehave known Christ. Nor will we pursuethe calling of Christian witness withdetermination unless we believe thatits message is for the world.

At the time of the writing of thisarticle there is tremendous interest inthe political campaign but perhapsgreater interest in the question "Whowill win the National League pennant?"Christian, ask yourself, "Have I everbeen as greatly interested in the salvationof a soul? As you have seen a processionof cars in a funeral have you ever won­dered if the soul of that person whosebody is being laid to rest is with theLord or in hell? Have you ever thoughtenough about yourcalling as a Christianwitness 'to forget yourself in sacrificiallabor and giving? If not, pray, in JamesMontgomery's words:

"Wisdom and zeal and faith impart,Firmness with meekness from above,To bear Thy people on our heart,And love the souls whom Thou dost

love;

To watch and pray, and never faint;By day and night strict guard to keep;To warn the sinner, cheer the saint,Nourish Thy lambs, and feed Thy sheep."

himself even to the death of the cross forthe salvation of men. We would learn ofthe love of God who sent his only Soninto the world that whosoever should be­lieve in him might be saved. We wouldalso learn of the Holy Spirit who takesthe things of Christ and gives them untous.

But where shall we learn more aboutthe Christ whom we love? Of course,you say, in the Bible. Does not the Bibletell us about God, about man and hissin, about Christ and his coming to saveman from this sin' and therefore fromthe wrath of God to come? Perhaps youbelieve the Bible to be the only in­fallible rule of faith and practice. Per­haps you tare a "Bible-believing Chris­tian." Perhaps you come from the "Bible­belt." And so you are ready to join us

(See "Van Til," p. 141)

The Presbyterian Guardian

..

'!L-;:~~GUARDIAN

1505 Race Street, Philadelphia 2, Pa.

Editorial Staff

EDITORSNed B. StonehouseLeslie W. Sloat

ASSOCIATE EDITORSJohn P. GalbraithRobley J. JohnstonRobert S. Marsden

CIRCULATION MANAGERAlbert G. Edwards, III

CORRESPONDENTSCalvin A. BuschEdwards E. ElliottLawrence R. EyresEdward L. KelloggLeRoy B. Oliver

All correspondence should be ad­dressed to The Presbyterian Guardian,1505 Race Street, Philadelphia 2, Pa,

James W. Price

THE REV. JAMES W. PRICE, Pastorof Emmanuel Orthodox Presbyterian

Church of Morristown, N. ]., died sud­denly on Monday afternoon, October 1,of a heart attack. He was 51 years ofage. He had been making pastoral callson sick members of the congregation,but had returned to his home. Only afew minutes after reaching his home,however, he collapsed. Death came al­most immediately.

Funeral services were held at thechurch on Thursday evening, with theRev. Leslie A. Dunn of Westfield, andthe Rev. Charles H. Ellis of SilverSpring, Md., in charge. Burial was inBaltimore, Md.

Mr. Price is survived by his wife,Elizabeth Fitz Price, by a sister Mrs.Evan Bowen of Cambria, Minnesota, andby his step-mother Mrs. David C. Priceof Mankato, Minn. Mr. Price and hiswife had provided a Christian home forthree children who were under state care.One of these, Roger, still lived withthem.

James W. Price was born May 10,1905 in Minnesota. He graduated fromWheaton College in 1931, and fromWestminster Theological Seminary inPhiladelphia in 1934. Following grad­uation from the Seminary, he was or-

October 15, 1956

dained to the gospel mirusrry and in­stalled as pastor of the SusquehannaAvenue Presbyterian Church in Phila­delphia. He and the congregation joinedin protesting the Modernism of the de­nomination, and in 1937 they withdrewfrom the denomination. A court decisionwent against them, and they were unableto continue using the SusquehannaAvenue property. The group took thename "Mediator" and began holdingservices at 2328 Germantown Avenue.The church was received into the Or­thodox Presbyterian denomination Au­gust 16, 1938.

Mr. Price became interested in open­ing a branch work in northeast Phila­delphia, and in time Mediator chapelwas built at Knorr and Rutland streets,which became the main center of hiswork. He served as pastor of MediatorChurch and Chapel until 1945, when heaccepted the call to Emmanuel Church,then unaffiliated, of Morristown, N. ].Mr. Price continued as a ministerialmember of the Orthodox Presbyteriandenomination, and just this summer thecongregation of Emmanuel voted toseek admission to the same denomina­tion. On September 22 the congregationwas received by the Presbytery of NewJersey.

Mr. Price was greatly interested inforeign missions. For many years he wasa member of and active participant inthe denomination's Committee on For­eign Missions. His interest in this aspectof the work was such that he left a re­quest, in which his wife concurred, thatflowers should be omitted at the funeral,and that those desiring should insteadcontribute to a memorial fund for Ortho­dox Presbyterian Foreign Missions. Mr.John Crawford, Jr., 468 Mt. KembleAvenue, Morristown, N. J., treasurer ofEmmanuel Church, has been namedtreasurer of this memorial fund.

Mr. Price also had a love for and aknowledgeof music. He enjoyed singingand leading others in singing. At theFrench Creek Bible Conferences he wasusually director of the music, and alwaysmanaged to get a group of those presentto form a choir which he would lead andwhich, despite their short time together,performed very creditably on conferenceoccasions.

Although aware for at least two yearsthat he had a heart condition, Mr. Pricecarried out faithfully his pastoral work.This past spring, after much consider­ation, he attended and preached the ser-

mon at a centennial observance of thechurch in Minnesota where he had beenbrought up. He took a ten-day leave forthis purpose, and refrained from takingany further vacation during the summer,planning to take one later in the year.

We extend our sincere sympathy tohis family and congregation, with theprayer that the Lord will graciously fulfillHis promise of comfort and strength intime of sorrow, in ways beyond thepower of human words to express.

Reformation and Scripture

A s WE commemorate ReformationDay, to thank God for our heritage

and pledge ourselves to renewed effortsto maintain and carry forward our callingas Protestants, we cannot fail to givecentral place in our thinking to the doc­trine of Holy Scripture. For the questionof the authority of Scripture constituted,as everyone recognizes, one of the mostbasic issues of the Reformation. TheRoman Catholic Church, indeed, affirmedwith unmistakable clarity the infallibilityof Scripture. The Reformers came tosee, however, that in assigning to ancienttradition and to the teaching of theChurch itself a place at least on thelevel with Scripture the distinctive au­thority of Holy Scripture was in effectset aside. And so the Reformation hascome to be identified with the doctrinethat the Bible is the Word of God, theonly infallible rule of faith and practice.

In our own day, however, the issueshave been drawn in rather differentlines. For within so-called Protestantismthere has come to be a widespread re­pudiation of the historic doctrine of in­spiration. This doctrine is widely ridi­culed as involving the substitution of apaper pope for the pope of Rome oreven as being tantamount to bibliolarry,A contemporary writer even speaks ofthe emphasis of fundamentalism on theliteral inerrancy of the Bible as "aspiritual disease." When, therefore, inour day we continue to maintain theinfallibility of Holy Scripture we do soin the consciousness that it is subject tothe severest possible criticism.

Another interesting and significantphenomenon of our day is that fromtime to time one hears voices amongevangelicals calling for a restatement andre-evaluation of the doctrine of Scrip­ture. This plea for a fresh considerationof the doctrine of inspiration may in­deed be a salutary one. There appears tobe some danger, however, that evangel-

1]5

I.el's Slop "Relbiakiag"!

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icals might seriously compromise theirfaith in this regard.

Among the reasons why evangelicalsmay well be concerned intensely withthe doctrine of Scripture the most basicis that if we have a high view of Scrip­ture, and particularly if we acknowledgeit as being the Word of God, we will beconstrained to turn again and againto the Bible to seek for the utmostclarity and certainty as to what its testi­mony is concerning itself. We will rec­ognize the need of setting forth ourdoctrine of Scripture with such precisionthat there will be no excuse for misun­derstanding it. This will be the morenecessary because those who attack theorthodox doctrine of Scripture often pre­sent a caricature or distortion of it. It isalso incumbent upon evangelicals to takeearnest account of such influential andthoronghgoing attacks upon the doctrineas are found in the works of Karl Barth,the more so because in recent daysBarth's works are becoming much morewidely available in English and his pointof view has won astonishingly wide ac­ceptance. In brief, therefore, with a viewboth to our personal faith and our callingto witness to the truth we must take thegreatest possible pains to base our doc­trine of Scripture squarely upon all thatthe Bible has to say concerning itself andto distinguish this doctrine with utmostclarity from all that may go beyond orfall short of it.

Evangelicals may well give heed to thewarning, on the other hand, that inengaging in an earnest evaluation oftheir heritage they do not lightly dis­pose of it for a mess of potage. Thereare subtle temptations to be beguiledby the prospect of a new state of libertyover against the Scriptures which hasnothing to do with the liberty of thesons of God of which Scripture speaks.Christians and the Christian church en­ter upon a tragic development when, inplace of submitting the whole of theirlife and thought to the authority of God'sWord, they come to stand in judgmentupon Scripture and accept its teachingsonly in so far as they appear to be ac­ceptable.

It is highly important, indeed, thatevangelicals should not maintain theinfallibilty of Scripture in isolation fromtheir acknowledgment of the total mes­sage of Scripture. There is little or nopositive religioussignificance in acknowl­edging the divine authority of Scriptureif the message of Scripture is basicallymisconstrued. The doctrine of inspira-

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tion is one Biblical doctrine among manyand we shall, have clarity with regardto it, and it will be truly meaningful forus, only if we receive it as a distinctivefeature of the total organism of truth.

Scripture itself, however, does bear un­mistakable testimony to the truth andsignificance of the historic doctrine ofScripture. And only if the Church main­tains without compromise its historicacknowledgment of the Scriptures asbeing the Word of God, the only in­fallible rule of faith and practice, willthere be any certainty of its being found

ON E OF THE BLIGHTS which recentlyhas come upon the evangelical world

is the idea that we must "rethink" ourfaith. A group of evangelical ministersmeets and one of them will say, "Lastnight I heard Dr. . . . speak. Of coursehe does not hold to the inspiration of theBible as we do. He spoke on the in­terpretation of the Fall, and made out apretty good case for interpreting theFall as myth. He had some genuine in­sight and I think that we are going tohave to rethink this whole question ofthe interpretation of Genesis three." Theother ministers shake their heads insolemn agreement. "Yes," they echo ineffect, "Weare going to have to rethinkthe problem of the Fall."

There it is - this businessof rethink­ing, and it seems to be sweeping overevangelical believers like a storm. Aminister reads a work in which the doc­trine of inspiration is denied, and thenconcludes, "We shall have to rethink thewhole question of inspiration." Apreacher who has been reading a work ofscience asserts, "Possibly there is more totheistic evolution than we had thought.We shall have to rethink the wholequestion." Or it may be the matter of therelation of Christianity to the Dead SeaScrolls. Possibly there was an influencefrom these scrolls which explains certainphases of the origin of Christianity. Wemust rethink the whole question. Particu­larly with respect to the interpretation ofthe early chapters of Genesis is this thecase. The claims of some scientists haveapparently had a telling effect, and thereare those who consider that it is neces­sary to rethink the whole question of

obedient to the great Head of theChurch. Only thus can there be an as­surance of a genuine Reformation of thelife and doctrine of the Church. Onlythus will the Church be enabled to ap­prehend and to experience the libertywith which Christ has made it free."God alone is Lord of the conscience,and hath left it free from the doc­trines and commandments of menwhich are in anything contrary to HisWord, or beside it, if matters of faithor worship."

N. B. S.

By EDWARD J. YOUNG

how those chapters should be inter­preted.

Why Rethink?The present writer wishes to make

it as clear as he can that he is unalterablyopposed to the whole business of re­thinking in this way. The assumptionwhich apparently undergirds the idea isthat we may have been mistaken in ourbeliefs and possibly what we have hith­erto believed is incorrect. New knowl­edge, so the assumption seems to be, maycompel us to abandon our old beliefsand to restate the Christian faith in sucha manner that it will be acceptable tothe findings of modern research.

It is without a doubt true that we,as Christian men and women, must paycareful attention and heed to whatevernew theory comes our way. We muststudy new views very carefully. Inwhat manner, however, are we to dealwith them? If they happen to contradictexpress statements of the Bible are weto reject the statements of the Bibleor reinterpret them so that they willagree with the new theory? That, ineffect, is what the "rethinking" procedureamounts to. It amounts to abandoningthe teaching of the Bible or to modifyingthe Bible so that it squares with thelatest theory. Such a procedure, if consist­ently carried through, will ultimatelylead to a complete abandonment of theBible as the final authority.

When new views are presented to us,what should be our procedure? The an­swer is really quite simple. These newviews must be subjected to the test ofthe Bible. If they agree with the Bible,well and good. If they do not agree

The Presbyterian Guardian

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with the Bible, no matter how attractivethey are, they must be rejected and re­jected decisively. The Bible is the stand­ard by which various theories must bejudged. They are not to judge the Bible;it is to judge them.

To take an example, many people ap­parently wish that it were somehow pos­sible to make the Bible square withsome form of theistic evolution. Theywould work out some kind of rapproche­ment between the two.

Can this, however, be done? It is per­fectly clear that the first chapter ofGenesis rules Out theistic evolution. Thephrase, "after its kind," when inter­preted in the simplest language, meansthat man begets man, and that man didnot come from any previously existinglower form of life. Man, if you will,did not descend or grow out of or evolvefrom the lower animals. No amount ofrethinking can Jchange the teaching ofthe Bible on this point. We do not haveto be specialists in the natural sciences.All we have to do is believe what theBible teaches, in the assurance that thefacts of natural science, when properlyinterpreted, will agree with the Bible.About the biggest mistake that couldbe made would be to try somehow tomodify the clear teaching of the Biblein order to make it agree with whatcertain scientists say.

Another example will be in point.What about the Biblical doctrine ofinspiration? Shall we rethink that doc­trine? To do so would be tantamount toits rejectien, The Biblical doctrine ofinspiration is very clear. The Bibleteaches that the Holy Spirit so superin­tended the I human writers of Scriptureas they wrote that what they wrote wasprecisely what He desired them to write,and, inasmuch as its origin is from God,it is free of error in thought, fact, anddoctrine. It is, in other words, a verbalinspiration, and the Scripture is bothinfallible and inerrant.

Of course this view is not populartoday. Those, for example, who espousesome form of nee-orthodoxy with itswild doctrine that the human words ofScripture are fallible and errant, yetnevertheless are witnesses to a nebulous"Word of God" which comes to thereader of Scripture, are not going to re­ceive the Bibledoctrine of inspirationwith any enthusiasm. Shall we on thataccount "rethink" the Biblical doctrine?God grant that we may not do so. Godgrant that we shall rather submit themodern theories to the touchstone ofthe Bible, and if they would require us

October 15, 1956

to modify or in any sense abandon theBiblical teaching, then let us in no un­certain fashion reject and repudiate themodern theory.

The Biblical doctrine of inspiration isperfectly clear. It finds a cogent ex­pression, for example, in the first chapterof the Westminster Confession of Faith.We may accept this teaching or we mayreject it. It is however, the clear teachingof the Bible, and no mount of "rethink­ing" will change that fact. To rethinkthis doctrine, in order to make it har­monize with modern conceptions of in­spiration, is simply to destroy it.

We say that Jesus Christ is the onlySaviour from sin. There are many finepeople, however, who do not agree. Theythink that there is truth in all religions,and that one religion is as good as an­other. In their writings, if we may usethe overworked expresisions of today,they often exhibit "insights' and make"contributions." Shall we, therefore, giveup our faith in Christ? Shall we re­think the whole question of whetherJesus is the only Saviour? Possibly weshall have to do that, if we want toretain the respect of those who disagreewith us. Perhaps we had better becomelike the lady of whom Stephen Leacockwrote, who taught her daughter Chris­tianity, but also taught her Mohamme­danism to make sure. If the present em­phasis upon rethinking continues, it willnot be surprising if before long we donot hear it suggested that the Gospelmust be rethought.

We Do Need to ThinkWhat is the reason for this apparent

willingness to rethink the tenets of Chris­tianity, apparently with a readiness tomodify them so that they will squarewith some of the "findings" of modernresearch? No doubt there may be severalreasons, and it may not be possible tostate them all. We cannot always tellwhat makes a man act as he does. Theredoes seem, however, to be one considera­tion to which we do well to take heed.Have we believed our Faith merely be­cause it has been taught to us or hascome down to us by tradition, or havewe accepted it because we earnestly be­lieve that it is true? Have we consideredthe terrible consequence of adopting anyother position than that of Christianity?Are we fully persuaded in our minds thatthe Bible is the Word of God? Andabove all have we actually engaged indeep serious study of the Bible?

By all means let us do much hardthinking with respect to the new viewsthat are constantly thrust upon us. Let us

consider the statements the neo-ortho­dox, and let us understand the nature ofmodern thought. But it must all be sub­mitted to the test of the Bible. It is ofcourse not easy to evaluate certain phasesof the modern movement. We shall haveto read and srudy and devote muchthought to what is offered. We mustnot misrepresent modern theologiansand scientists. In the srudy of the mod­ern movement, however, may we notforget the Bible.

One final word. Our thinking aboutthe problems of Scripture must be think­ing which is based upon the Scriptureand which is in conformity with itsteaching. Weare to think the revealedthoughts of God after Him. Weare notto subject them to the wisdom of men;we are not to modify them to fit therequirements of an age which does notwish to bow down in humility beforeGod. It is not a rethinking of the Faiththat is required today; rather it is ataking stock of ourselves. Do we be­lieve that the Bible is the Word ofGod? Are we willing to base our think­ing entirely upon the Scriprures? Arewe willing to bear the reproach ofChrist? These are the questions to whichserious heed must be given. The timesare fraught with peril. May God grantthat His people will stand fast in theirbelief that the Bible is His infallibleWord, and by this infallible Word maythey try all the spirits which come.

Spooner's HouseholdGoods Burned

H OUSEHOLD GOODS belonging to theRev. and Mrs. A. Boyce Spooner,

which had been packed and were await­ing shipment to Korea where the Spoon­ers are to be missionaries, were destroyedalong with the goods of several othermissionaries, in a fire Wednesday eve­ning, September 26, in Willow Grove,Pa. The Spooners are already en route toKorea.

The fire, of undetermined origin, gut­ted the workshop and storage shed ofWilliam Freeland, a Christian laymanwho for a number of years has as aChristian service offered to pack andcrate goods for missionaries goingabroad.

Among items belonging to the Spoon­ers and lost in the blaze were a re­frigerator, washing machine, two bi­cycles, chinaware, kitahen utensils, linen,books, etc. It is uncertain at presentwhat salvage, or what insurance cover­age there may be.

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Orthodox PresbyterianChurch NewsMiddletown, Pa.

Special evangelistic services were heldat Calvary Church September 23-30, withthe Rev. Lawrence R. Eyres of West­chester, 111., as guest preacher. The menof the church are contributing theirlabor in making improvements to themanse. The basement is being fixed upfor the use of overflow Sunday schoolclasses.

Bancroft, S. D.The fall meeting of the Presbytery of

the Dakotas was held in MurdochMemorial Church September 18-19. Apopular meeting was held the first eve­ning, with the Rev. Laurence Vail ofDenver bringing the message. The Rev.Lawrence Eyres of Westchester, 111.,conducted a Sunday school workshopand clinic during the Presbytery gather­ing. The Women's Presbyterial alsoheld its fall meeting on the 19th, withMrs. Russell Piper of Bridgewater pre­siding.

Denver, Colo.A special meeting of the Presbytery

of the Dakotas is to be held. at ParkHill Church October 27 for the purposeof receiving the Rev. Elmer M. Dortz­bach of Franklin Square, N. Y. andinstalling him as the pastor of the church.

Franklin Square, N. Y.About 150 persons attended the

Franklin Square Church on the eveningof September 21 when the film "MartinLuther" was shown. At a farewell forthe pastor, the Rev. Elmer Dortzbach,who left September 30 to take up hisnew work in Denver, a gift purse waspresented. The money is to be used forthe purchase of a tape-recorder.The Rev.Arthur Olson of New York has beenappointed Moderator of the Session.

Pittsgrove, N. J.The Presbytery of New Jersey met

at Faith Church on September 22. TheRev. Robley Johnston, General Secretaryof the Committee on Christian Education,preached at the morning service Septem­ber 23, on the subject, "How to buildthe church." The Sunday school is par­ticipating in the denominational Sundayschool contest.

Volga, S.D.The pastor, the Rev. Bruce Coie, with

the Rev. Melvin Nonhof of Bancroft,met recently with Brig. Gen. TheodoreArndt of the South Dakota NationalGuard, to present a protest against the

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practice of holding Sunday drills. TheRev. Lawrence Eyres was guest speakerfor the annual convention of the Brook­ings County Sunday School Association.

Trenton, N. J.Twelve persons are enrolled in a

communicant's class which the Rev.Theodore Georgian is conducting atGrace Church on Sunday mornings dur­ing the Sunday school hour.

West Collingswood, N. J.Catechism classes for young people

in grades 4 to 12 are being conductedby the pastor of Immanuel Church, as­sisted by Elder Willard Nee1. BruceParker, from Immanuel Church, is at­tending the new Christian high schoolin Philadelphia. Lois Parker is attendingCalvin College.

Silver Spring, Md.A series of special gospel services

were scheduled for Knox Church October14-19, with the Rev. J. Marcellus Kik,associate editor of the magazine "Chris­tianity Today" as guest speaker.

San Francisco, Calif.Richard Lauxterman was ordained a

deacon of Covenant Church on Septem­ber 16. The pastor, the Rev. RichardLewis, arranged to start services in Con­cord early in October. A suitable placefor the worship and Sunday schoolservices there has been secured.

Evergreen Park, Ill.The Men's Club of Westminster

Church is sponsoring an adult "Forum,"consisting of a series of six Iectures tobe delivered during the fall and winterin the gym of the Evergreen Park highschool. The subjects of the lectures willbe related to adventures on earth andsea, and the speakers will be well knownworld travelers.

Johnstons WriteFrom Formosa

A LETfER from the Rev. and Mrs.John D. Johnston, received in the

latesummer, told of their plans for mov­ing into a new area to carryon theirmissionary activities. A portion of theletter follows:

"Every Friday I have been going downto a Hakka town about 30 miles southof Taipei, to help a former student ofmine.... The town is called Yang Mei(Strawberry Town) and has a popula­tion of some 25,000. In the afternoonswe have visited homes and shops andconducted children's meetings, and in theevenings I have taken a series of studies

for the church people and others in theGospel of John. The church has beenestablished only a little over two yearsbut now there is a very solid group ofChristians, the majority of whom arenew believers....

"It is our intention to move downinto the heart of the Hakka field in thenear future. Mr. Andrews is due backfrorn furlough at the end of August, andthis will leave us free to leave Taipeiand concentrate our efforts in this othervery needy field. We plan to make ourhome in the city of Hsin Chu (NewBamboo). It is some 50 miles southof Taipei right on the main highwayand railroad and can be reached in alittle over an hour by the new fast dieseltrain or in less than two hours by busfrom Taipei. Hsin Chu has a populationof about 150,000, of whom about onethird are Hakka. The other two thirdsare mostly Formosan, but there are alsoa good many mainland Chinese. HsinChu is the political and educationalcenter of the Hakka area. There are noless than six large secondary schools inthis town and we hope to be able tocontact many of the students while weare there. We feel that the teen-ageyoung people are the most importantage group to work among. . . . There aresome 40 American families and a schoolhas been established for their children.Our daughter Ruth Helen will be al­lowed to attend this school.

"I have said that we plan to make ourhome in Hsin Chu, but my work willextend far beyond this city. There aremany Hakka towns within easy reach,both by train and bus. Chu Tun is onlyabout 25 minutes by bus. It is locatedin a lovely valley and surrounded bymountains. We spent a week there lastsummer conducting young people's meet­ings.

"I have spoken before of numbers ofRoman Catholic priests and nuns whohave moved into this area. There areover 60 priests and at least 20 nuns.They have built many churches andorganized schools. Pray that in spite ofthe inroads of these people we may beable to present the glorious Gospel ofthe free and sovereign grace of Christto the needy people there...."

Philadelphia ChristianHigh School Opens

T H IRTY-TWO STUDENTS have beenenrolled in the Philadelphia-Mont­

gomery Christian High School, whichopened on September 13. The school is

The Presbyterian Guardian.

operating the ninth and tenth grades thisyear, and expects to add a grade in eachof the next two years, to bring it to thefull four grades of the regular highschool course.

Temporarily classes are being heldin the building of the First ReformedChurch on Stenton Avenue in the Mr.Airy section of Philadelphia. As soonas repairs are completed, perhaps in afew weeks, it is planned to move classesto the building in Wyncote, Pa., whichhas been purchased for school use.

The pupils enrolled come from fourelementary schools in the area - theChristian schools of Willow Grove, Ger­mantown, Northeast, and of CamdenCounty, N. J.

Miss Johanna Timmer, formerly prin­cipal of the Christian school in Ripon,California, is serving as principal. Otherfull time teachers are Mt. Charles Frey­tag of East Orange, N. ]., and MissMargaret Brown of Wycombe, Pa. Serv­ing as part time instructors are the Rev.Professor Edmund P. Clowney Jr. in art,Mr. Mack Wei ford in music, and theRev. Messrs. Robert Atwell and RobertThoburn in boy's physical education.Courses offered are college preparatory,general, and business.

The school is currently in the midstof a financial drive, seeking to raise$8,000. Contributions may be sent tothe treasurer, Mr. Walter H. Marchant,105 Newington Drive, Hatboro, Penna.

Three CongregationsReceived

DURING RECENT WEEKS three newcongregations have been received

as regular churches of the OrthodoxPresbyterian denomination.

Emmanuel Church of Morristown,N.J.was received by action of the Presbyteryof New Jersey on September 22. Thischurch has existed as an independentcongregation since before the organiza­tion of the Orthodox PresbyterianChurch in 1936. It has been closelyassociated with the work of the denomi­nation, and its pastors have been mem­bers of the denomination.

In Portland, Oregon, the Bible Presby­terian Church, unaffiliated, of that cirywas received into the denomination byaction of the Presbytery of California,on September 20th. The pastor of thiscongregation, the Rev. Gerard Laral,wasreceived into the Presbytery last spring.Both pastor and congregation were for­merly affiliated with the Bible Presby­terian denomination.

October 15, 1956

And on September 17th the First Or­thodox Presbyterian Church of Sunny­vale, California, organized through theefforts of the Rev. Henry Coray, wasreceived. Thirteen families have appliedfor charter membership in this congrega­tion. Mt. William Patapoff and Mr.Fred Hoelzele have been ordained aselders.

Anniversaries inHolkeboer Family

T HE REV. OSCAR HOLKEBOER, pastorof First Orthodox Presbyterian

Church of Waterloo, Iowa, and Mrs.Holkeboer were the honored guests at aspecial gathering in the Waterloo Churchin July, when the congregation remem­bered the 23rd anniversary of theirwedding and the 24th anniversaryof Mr.Holkeboer's ordination to the gospelministry.

Three sisters and a brother of Mr.Holkeboer were present for the occasion,as well as several members of BethelChurch of Oostburg, Wise. where Mt.Holkeboer was pastor at the time of hismarriage. One of the sisters, Miss TinaHolkeboer, is a missionary in Manila.in the Philippines, and was home onleave at the time.

Mr. Holkeboer is a graduate of HopeCollege, Holland, Mich., and of West­minster Theological Seminary of Phila­delphia, class of 1932. Following semin­ary he served as pastor of Bethel church,and later taught in the Eastern Academyin Paterson, N. J. In 1947 he was calledto First Church of Waterloo, and hasbeen there since.

The Holkeboers have five children.The oldest, Cecelia, is a student at Calvincollege. The others, two girls and twoboys, are at home.

Mt. Clarence Roskamp, an elder ofFirst Church, was master of ceremoniesfor the anniversary observance, whichincluded a special program illustratingthe life of Mt. and Mrs, Holkeboer.

Navy Men InvitedTo National City

THE REV. EDWARD 1. KELLOGG, pas­of First Church, National City, Cali­

fornia, has askedus to note that NationalCity is very near to San Diego. Sooner orlater all Navy personnel seem to spendsome time in San Diego, and the Firstchurch of National City, as well as thecongregation of Chula Vista, would beglad to welcome to their services Or­thodox Presbyterian or other Navy men

who are stationed, temporarily or per­manently, at San Diego.

The National City church meets at24th and F streets, with services at 11a.m. and 7 p.m. and a Sunday school at9:30 a.m. The Chula Vista services areat the Women's Club, 357 G. Street, at9:45 a.m. with Sunday school at 10:45a.m. The Rev. Jack Peterson is in chargeof these services.

Bible Conferences­That Our Young PeopleMay Glorify God~~T HAT OUR young people may

learn to glorify God and enjoyHim forever" is the by-line of the FrenchCreek Bible Conference Association. Byany standard available to us this goal wasmore fully attained in the Conferences of1956 than in any of the previous years.Total attendance at the Junior Confer­ence was 182, and at the Senior Con­ference 171, taxing facilities to the ut­most since we had once felt that 155 wasan absolute maximum. We are now hop­ing mat arrangements can be made toaccommodate 200 at each Conferencenext year. Even more encouraging thanincrease in attendance was the attitudeand enthusiasm of delegates both duringthe Conferences and after return to theirchurches. Staff members who had neverbefore been at French Creek expressedamazement at the amount of Bibleinstruction provided and at the remark­able commitment of the young peoplethemselves to the purpose for which theConference exists.

The Junior Conference, now tradi­tionally held each last full week ofAugust, was attended by 143 youngpeople from grades 6 through 9. To thiswriter it is almost beyond belief that agroup of this age should profit so greatlyfrom one week of fellowship and instruc­tion. Its success was due largely to theRev. Lewis Grorenhuis who planned anddirected it and to his staff which in­cluded the Rev. Wendell Rockey as hisAssistant and the Rev. Albert Edwardsas Dean. The theme of this Conferencewas "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday,today and forever" and the courses in­cluded one on Bible Doctrine on "ThePerson and Work of Jesus Christ"taught by the Rev. Elmer Dortzbach andone providing practical application ofthe Conference theme entitled "Christin My Life" taught by the Rev. LeslieDunn.

Year in and year Out one who makes

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an immeasurable contribution to theConferences is "Buzz" Walmer whoagain served as chief cook both weeks.His concern for the spiritual as well asthe physical health of the young peoplemakes him an invaluable member of thestaff and he had an excellent group ofassistants.

The Senior Conference, for youngpeople of high school age and thoseolder, profited from the classes on "Sal­vation by Grace" taught by the Rev.Robert Marsden, "Origin and Historyof the Orthodox Presbyterian Church"by the Rev. John Odland and a courseon the third chapter of John's Gospelby the Rev. Henry Fikkert as well as theevening messages on Messanic Prophe­cies delivered by Dr. E. J. Young. TheRev. James Price again made a uniquecontribution by directing the music andtraining a choir. Seminarian GeorgeKnight capably directed activities at thewater front while Dick Gaffin had chargeof inter-tribal competition and MissMarion Davis, one of several ChristianSchool teachers on the sraff, handled theBible Quizzes each evening. Words arealtogether inadequate to express thisDirector's gratitude to the nineteencounsellors who he is convinced con­stituted the finest group ever assembledfor such a purpose. It is gratifying tonote that they included such Conference"graduates" as Dick Gaffin, Joan Groten­huis, Eleanor Roberts and Bertha andLois Hunt, the latter of whom alsoserved as nurse. There were many othersof the older young people who con­tributed greatly to the good of the Con­ference both in assigned tasks and innumerous undesignated ways.

It should be publicly acknowledgedthat though the staff team was deliber­ately "loaded" with old pros like "Chuck"Ellis, "Chip" Stonehouse and Ed Urban

T he French Creek BibleConferences are conduct­

ed by an Association, mem­bership in which is open tomembers of any evangelicalchurch upon payment of amembership fee of two dol.lars. The work of the con­ferences is planned and car­ried out by a board of 12directors who are electedfrom ordained officers of theOrthodox PresbyterianChurch. Further informationmay be secured from· theRev. Robert L. Atwell, 2450Norwood, Roslyn, Penna.

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the delegates again won the annual soft­ball game by a 7-3 score.

Labor Day saw the annual meetingof the Conference Association at whichtime Rev. Henry Fikkert and Elder Don­ald Habecker were added to the Direc­torate. Speakers at the Mission Fest ofthat day included Foreign MissionaryOarence Duff and Seminarian HarvieConn as a representative of the studentsserving on home missions fields,

Surely such Bible Conferences as theseare a most worthwhile aspect of themovement to which THE PRESBYTERIANGUARDIAN is committed and her read­ers are thanked for their support, andtheir prayers are solicited that the re­sults may,through the years, redound tothe glory of God and specifically thatHe may guide the Directorate in plan­ning the Conference for 1957, includingdecisions as to a Family Conference forthat year.

R.1. ATWELL

A Letter From KoreaDEAR DR. STONEHOUSE,

I am in hearry agreement with yourthoughts on Biblical and non-Biblicalapproaches to church unity as expressedin the June GUARDIAN editorial. But Iam happiest of all about your frank urg­ing of the Christian Reformed Churchand the Orthodox Presbyterian Churchto seek ways of unity. Your address tothe Christian Reformed Synod rang apowerful note in saying that "the Cath­olicity of the Church . . . is based ona sure foundation, and the ecumencialcalling of the Church is a very earnestone.... And should not ecumeniciry,like charity, begin at home?"

May I suggest that a very great needand a very live opportunity for our twochurches working hand' in hand existsin Korea today. In Japan alone, if I amnot mistaken there are ministers of theOrthodox Presbyterian Church and theChristian Reformed Church working inmutual assistance on a common field ofmission enterprise, working with thesame native church. In Korea a similararrangement is desired both by the Ko­rean leaders of the General PresbyteryPresbyterian Church as well as by usmissionaries in Korea from the OrthodoxPresbyterian Church. The e. R. Churchis at present in debate about whetherthey should send men here to Korea,and are postponing such action, thoughthey have repeatedly received invitationfrom the Korean church here to have

them send missionaries, and in spite ofthe fact that they have, without anyrepresentative in Korea, been sendingtens of rhousands of dollars annually toaid the Korea church mentioned above.

Now is the time to act on behalf ofthe Reformed Faith in Korea. And nowis the time to show, by cooperative andeven ecumenical action on the part ofthe O. P. Church and the e. R. Church,that in spite of the charges that thetraditionalist Calvinist groups cannot dootherwise than continue as reactionaryand re-splitting groups who cannot getalong with blood brethren, that neverthe­less the testimony of fact is not unani­mously with the charge. The GeneralPresbytery Presbyterian Church here inKorea is still in its infancy, havingformed so lately as 1953, and only lastyear forming' itself into 6 presbyteries.Before her separation from the largercontinuing denomination there was onelarge Presbyterian Church with whichworked missionaries from the Presby­terian Church in the US.A., the Presby­terian Church in the US., and theChurch of Canada and the PresbyterianChurch of Australia. Until 1953 themissionaries of the Orthodox Presby­terian Church and the Independent Boardfor Presbyterian Foreign Missions workedalongside the others in the same Koreanchurch, though with increasingly difficultrelations existing. Now, at last, a divisionsimilar to that which took place in thePresbyterian Church in the US.A. in1936 has taken place here. The issuesare of similar import, and the divisionof somewhat equal justification. Thelines are being more sharply drawn astime goes on. Now is the time forthose Reformed and those Presbyterianbodies in America who have survivedsuch similar birth pains in earlier yearsto answer the call of a sister churchwhich now faces the same difficultiesand more.

Here, I believe, is a great opportunityfor the O.P.e. to invite the C.R.C. tojoin with her in her missionary labors inKorea. And instead of lettingcoopera­tion and unity arrive on some informallevel on the remote missionary fieldbetween merely the individuals who arein physical propinquity, let the twochurches discuss and agree as to whatmode and degree of unity may best beentered upon. Couldn't this be a step to­ward ecumenicity?

Cordially yours,THEODORE HARD

The Presbyterian Guardian

VanTil(Continued from p. 134)

in a study of the Bible.But surely you have come for a spec­

ial purpose. You have come to pre­pare yourself to preach the gospel. Youthink of this seminary as a place whereyou may make this preparation. Youthink of the faculty of this seminaryas those who wish to help you to dothis very thing And in this you areright. For this very purpose was theSeminary brought into existence. Thefaculty desires to unfold to you and tolearn with you ever more of God aseternal and unchanging in his being,wisdom, power, holiness, justice, good­ness and truth. The faculty would unfoldto you and learn with you ever moreof what it means that man was madein the image of God and that he be­came involved with Satan in rebellionagainst God, now being therefore sub­ject to the wrath of God and there­fore to eternal separation from God.The facultywould unfold before you andlearn with you ever more of Christ, thegreat prophet, priest and king whocame to savemen from eternal death andbring them eternal life.

All this must be done in the face ofthe world situation as it obtains today.We do not live in the times of Lutherand of Calvin. To be sure RomanCatholicism still sets tradition next tothe Bible as the source of man's knowl­edge of God. It therewith cancels outthe Bible as the Word of God. On thisbasis it is finally not the Bible butthe church that informs man about Godthe Father, about Jesus Christ the Son,and about the Holy Spirit, and theirwork in relation to man. Thus the triuneGod loses his uniqueness. The God ofthe Scriptures must share his place withthe God of Aristotle. The coming ofthe Christ continues in the comingof the church. The work of the HolySpirit needs supplementation by thework of man.

With Luther and with Calvin weneed therefore continually to go backto the Scriptures away from the churchof Rome. But what Romanism did inthe days of the Reformation is nowbeing done within the protestant churchitself and that in very subtle form.

There is still with us today the move­ment in the church often spoken of asmodernism This is not meant to be aterm of reproach. It is meant to signifythat men, ministers and seminary teach-

October 15, 1956

ers, take the "modern" view of theBible. And whatever else this may meanit surely does mean that the Bible isnot to be regarded as the infallible ruleof faith and practice.

Secondly there is with us today whatis called nee-orthodoxy. We may fairlyenough call this the new modernism.And this too is not meant as a termof reproach. For however much KarlBarth and Emil Brunner may be said tohave called men back to the Bible theywould be the last to claim that theybelieve in the Bible as being, even inthe original languages, the infalliblerecord of God's revelation to man.

Now this rejection of the Bible asthe infallible rule of faith and practiceis not a matter of small importance.It cannot be met on the part of the"Bible-believing Christian" by someminor concession that he might make.It cannot be met, for instance, by sayingthat the Bible is, in any case, a trust­worthy historical record of the revela­tion of God to man. The modernist andthe new modernist are not satisfied withsuch concessions. They have themselves

CorrespondenceTO THE EDITOR

Three dollars a minute. To be worththat much a speech should be likeapples of gold in baskets of silver.When I mentioned such things on thefloor of a General Assembly of theOrthodox Presbyterian Church someyears ago, the commissioners laugh­ingly suggested that I sit down. Butthe point was made, and many menremember it well. It costs about fivethousand dollars to take pastors andelders out of their fields and seat themtogether for a week at General As­sembly.

How can we trim this frightful out­lay of cash? The suggestion that welimit attendance at assembly toelected commissioners has been de­bated and defeated, both in 1944 and1953. But a more likely method iscommending itself more and more tothe men of the church. Let the As­sembly meet every two years insteadof every year.

This year, the committee reportsand statistics were ready for the As­sembly in printed form. What madethis welcome change possible? Therewere fourteen months since the lastAssembly. The extra time made thedifference. Ideas were presented in amore mature form, and this made forless debate on the reports of standingcommittees. Next year, there will betwelve months, and the next year,probably ten. That ten month periodwill see a return to incomplete reports,beyond doubt, and the Assembly will

rejected the idea of an infallible Biblebecause they believe no final or finishedrevelation of God to man is possible inhistory. Their rejection of the Bible asthe orthodox protestant church believesin it stems finally from their assumptionthat God is a different SOrt of God,that man is a different sort of man andChrist is a different sort of Christ thanthe orthodox protestant church has his­torically believed. A modern view ofthe Bible goes with a modern view ofGod, a modern view of man and amodern view of Christ. One must takethem all or leave them all.

In our day the modernists and thenew modernists have joined hands withone another in the so-called ecumenicalmovement. And a great effort is beingmade by modern churchmen everywhereto transform this ecumenical movementinto an ecumenical church. Anyone canbe a member of this church so long as hedoes not believe in the Bible as theonly infallible rule of faith and practice.Well, he might be allowed in even solong as he would hold such a beliefto himself or at most speak of it as a

be hampered. But think what a dif­ference a two-year period would make.One set of printed minutes, one travelfund (which could be made quite ade­quate), one time away with its wearand tear of travel, matured reports,and more material to make the As­sembly worth while. Two years isoften enough.

In recent years, the incumbents ofthe standing committees have moreoften than not, been returned to office.This reflects the happy condition ofour church, in its freedom from parti­san politics. As things now stand, noreal difference in committee structurewould be observed if the Foreign Mis­sions, Home Missions, and ChristianEducation Committees consisted oftwo classes each, each class servingfour years, with elections every twoyears. Each class could consist of fiveministers and three elders.

An Assembly every year is luxurywe can ill afford. We are meeting toooften for our own good. Two years isoften enough. If you agree, why notwrite a letter to the Stated Clerk ofyour presbytery, requesting that thepresbytery overture the General As­sembly to make this change in theForm of Government. Enough of theseletters, and enough of these overtureswould mean that we could change theconstitution in time to omit the Gen­eral Assembly of 1959. And a savingof five thousand dollars in 1959 isworth going after, especially if it alsosaves a similar amount in 1961, 1963,1965, etc.

E. E. ELLIOTT

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belief that is of no more importancethan any other belief. For in that casesuch a belief would have cancelled it­self out as belief in the Bible as reallythe Word of God.

Walter F. Reif speaks of those whostill believe the Bible in the traditionalway as belonging to "non-ecumenicalProtestantism." Of this non-ecumenicalProtestantism he speaks as follows:

"Even a slight contact with non­ecumenical Protestantism today bringsthe realization that it prides iself on itsknowledge of the Bible, that it con­siders its ministers the only truly re­ligiously educated clergy and by im­plication dismisses the rest. It isprobably well within the mark to saythat these non-ecumenical groups pro­duce the worst theological scholarshipthat has ever issued from a Protestantsource. They have little appreciation forthe theologians who labored in yester­years; they disregard the historical back­ground of texts; and they hold the fan­tastic belief that they have a mon­opoly of God's truth. Their spirit is thatof dissension. There is dissension withinecumenical Protestantism tOO, but itis not accepted as God's will, and callsforth repentance and shame. There is anawareness that no denomination hasthe prerogative of forcing God's hand orthe right to assume that it has a mon­opoly of his truth. Most of the crea­tive scholarship of Protestantism todayis coming out of the ecumenical move­ment."

Out of this charge we take three itemsfor special mention:

( 1) The "non-ecumenical" group issaid "to produce the worst theologicalscholarship that has ever issued from aProtestant source." How can we answerthis without seeming to be boastful?It was J. Gresham Machen's contentionthat Christianity-and he meant theChristianity involving and based uponthe idea of the infallible Scripture­"was capable of scholarly defense." Hisstudents knew that he never evaded oravoided any of the facts that had bear­ing on the Scriptures. Our aim todayis still the same as was that of Machen.So far as time and our common limita­tions permit, you will be made conver­sant with all that the leading biblicalscholars of our own day have to sayabout the Bible, as well as with the viewsof those of "yesteryears."

(2) Of the "non-ecumenical group" itis said: "Their spirit is that of dissen­sion." Again how can we answer this

147

without seeming to be boastful? Let ushasten to confess with our fathers thatwe have only a small beginning of thatlove to Christ and our fellow-men thatshould mark those that are saved bygrace. We all act the part of the Phariseeagain and again. We confess with shamethis our fault and sin. With Paul wewould cry out: "0 wretched man that Iam! who shall deliver me from thebody of this death?"

But though there is this false dis­sension, springing from our wickedhearts, there is, we believe from theScripture, also a true dissension. Lutherand Calvin were sinful men. In themtoo there was false dissension. Yet themain thrust of their struggle againstRomanism was in the interest of bring­ing the Christ of the Scriptures to men.They found that Christ in the Scripturesalone. That Christ himself, through hisprophets and apostles, explained to themwho he was and what he had cometo do in the world. Luther and Calvinlistened in the Scriptures to this self­attesting Christ. It was that Christ thatthey would bring, through his wordof authority spoken in the Scriptures,to sinners in need. It was to that Wordof that Christ that Luther appealed when,at the Diet of Worms, he said: "I can­not do otherwise."

So, it is not because we find pleasurein disagreement with others, but be­cause we cannot do otherwise, in theface .of the needs of sinful men, menlost forever unless they submit to theChrist of the Scriptures, that we mustregister basic dissent both with themodernist and with the new-moderniston their view of the Scripture.

(3) "Non-ecumenical Protestantism"is said to "hold the fantastic belief thatthey have a monoply of God's truth."This point is basic to all. But here ap­pears to be some misunderstanding. Itis one thing to hold that the Bible isthe "infallible rule of faith and practice."It is quite a different thing for anyman, for any group of men, for anychurch to say that it has a monopolyin understanding what the Bible teaches.The mind of man is finite. Its under­standing of the revelation of God cannotbe a comprehensive understanding. Andthe Christian knows that the "man ofsin" within him always keeps him fromunreservedly making his mind complete­ly subject to the "obedience of Christ."

But who are we to say that Godcannot speak infallibly in the Bible?Who are we to say that no man, no

prophet or apostle can be 1used of theSpirit of God to make his will known tomen? We would ourselves need to knowall to know that such cannot be the case.

It is to such lengths that men mustgo, once they forsake the idea of theScriptures as the infallible Word of God.

The ecumenical movement, about tobecome the ecumenical church, assumesthat truth is relative. Accordingly itsmembers assume that there can be no in­fallible Bible. It is with this assumptionthat they come to the facts of Scripture.They look through the colored glassesof the relativism of all human thought.

On this basis what is there left of theidea of the gospel of Christ? Why shouldyou, on this basis, prepare yourself forthe preaching of the gospel? There arethen no sinners who need the gospel.There is then no Christ who died tosave men from the wrath to come. Thereis then no "father's home" into whichthose in Christ shall be received. All islove and all love is lost.

It is not because we are better thanother men, better in thought and in life,that we still believe and teach whatLuther and Calvin taught. It is only bygrace that we are saved. It is only bygrace that we receive the Bible as theWord of God.

Yet, having been saved by grace, wecan, after that, tremblingly yet confi­dently assert that without this Bible andwithout the Christ of this Bible menmust presume to stand within pureemptiness and yet determine what canand cannot exist and be true.

We therefore humbly invite you withus to study the Bible, to see what itschallenge is to men, to learn to confrontmen everywhere with the Christ of theScriptures, could it be to their salvationand to the glory of God.

Church Membership NearHundred Million Mark

MEMBERSH IP IN CHURCHES andreligious bodies in the United

States is now over the hundred millionmark, according to statistics contained inthe National Council's Yearbook ofAmecican Churches for 1957.

The figure includes 58,448,567 listedas Protestants, 33,396,647 listed as Ro­man Catholics, 5,500,000 Jews, 2,386,­945 Eastern Orthodox, and 430,000 inother specifiedgroups.

These figures are based on reportsfurnished by 258 out of the 268 relig-

The Presbyterian Guardian

ious bodies listed in the Yearbook.The relative strength of Protestant and

Romish groups remains about the sameas it has for a number of years.

Of the Protestants, most are found innine general denominational groupings.Baptists have 27 church bodies and atotal of over 18 million members. Meth­odists have 22 denominations and some11 million, while Lutherans have nine­teen denominations and over seven mil­lion members. The largest single Prot­estant body is the Methodist church with9,242,046 members listed.

The same Yearbook reports almost39 million enrolled in Sunday schools,including three million teachers. Thenumber of Sunday schools is given as264,726. There are some 305,449 placesof worship, and 222,018 clergymen incharge of local congregations.

Observe Knox Anniversary

L EADERS OF THE Church of Scotlandand officials of the National Prot­

estant Church of Geneva joined inSeptember in a three day celebrationmarking the 400-th anniversary of theGeneva ministry of John Knox, famousScottish reformer who studied in Ge­neva under John Calvin, preached inthat city, and is one of the foundingfathers from the Reformation period ofReformed and Presbyterian Churches.During the anniversary observance theRev. Niall D. Watson, former pastorin Glasgow, was installed as the pastorof the Scottish Church's congregation inGeneva.

Minority AwardedChurch Property

A DISTRICT COURT JUDGE in Dallas,Texas, has ruled that a minority of

the Northbridge Presbyterian Church(Southern) who desired to remain inthe denomination when the congregationby 159-83 voted to withdraw, is entitledto retain the $600,000 church property.Last March the Dallas Presbytery dis­missed the church's pastor, Dr. JohnKnox Bowling, who was charged withdefying Presbyterian law and authority.The congregation then by about 2-1voted to withdraw from the denomin­ation.

Since then the majority has been us­ing the church property, while the mi­nority has been meeting in a schoolbuilding. An appeal against the judge'sruling has been filed, and the matter

October 15, 1956

will doubtless be rn court for manymonths.

Pope EndorsesSpace Explorcition

P OPE PIUS XII has given his officialsanction to the efforts of scientists

to explore space and investigate inter­planetary travel. Addressing a group ofastronautical scientists at his castle re­treat in Italy, he said that God neverintended to put a limit to man's insati­able thirst for knowledge, and comment­ed that man appeared to be breakingthe fences which have hitherto kepthim confined to the earth. He warnedthat these developments would onlyintroduce additional divisions into thehuman race, unless there was also adeeper moral consideration of the con­sequences of space conquest.

Archeologists ExcavateAncient City of Gibeon

AN EXPEDITION from the Church Di­vinity Schoolof the Pacific, of Ber­

keley, Calif., sponsored by the Museumof the Universtiy of Pennsylvania, hasfound the ancient city of Gibeon inPalestine and has excavated its waterpool and some of the fortifications, ac­cording to an announcement by Uni­versity authorities.

Gibeon is the city from which mencame to Joshua, professing themselvesto have come by a long journey andasking an alliance, when actually theyhad come from near where he was.

The city was found at an Arab villagecalled el-Jib, of some 900 inhabitants.Identification was said to be certain,because of inscriptions found on thehandles of some pottery jars.

The archeologists found a circularpool, measuring 36 feet in diameter,and deep enough to contain a threesrory house. It was CUt from solid rock.The scholars indicated they rhoughtit was probably the pool where the fam­ous battle took place between the menof Abner, Saul's captain, and Joab,David's captain, as recorded in 2 Sam­uel, chapter 2.

Complete excavation of the city willtake many years.

----

Anti-MissionaryReports in India

Two SEPARATE reports, from investi­gating bodies of State governments

in India, have been issued this summer

cnncizmg the work of Christian mis­sions. One of these reports, from thecommittee in Madhya Pradesh, chargedthat Christian "propaganda" was beingused to "de-nationalize" Indians and torestore "Western imperialism." Theother, from a committee of MadhyaBharat, stated that missionary effortscarried the danger of fostering separatismand snobbery among converts, and urgedthat converts be required to register ata public office their intention to changetheir religion. A bill proposing a similarprovision for the whole of India was op­posed by Prime Minister Nehru lastyear, and failed to pass Parliament.

Another report from India recentlytold of riots over a book which carrieda reference to Mohammed that metpopular disfavor. The riots were of suchproportion that over a dozen personslost their lives as mobs gathered to pro­test publication and sale of the book.

Congregationa I E& RMerger Approved

T HE ,GENERAL Synod of the Evan­gelical and Reformed Church has

approved unanimously the proposedmerger with the Congregational Chris­tian Churches. The General Council ofthe latter body approved the mergerearlier in the summer. The new bodywill be called the United Church ofChrist, and will have a membership ofmore than 2 million, ranking as theseventh largest denomination in Amer­ica. The merger is of interest becausethe two bodies differ in origin and cul­tural background, and in their conceptsof church .government.

To effect the merger, a joint meetingof the two bodies is scheduled for Cleve­land in June of next year, when the con­stitution of the new communion will beformally drafted. The merger has beenunder consideration for 14 years.

Although the formal union has beendetermined, spokesmen for the churchesadmit that real integration of the con­gregations will not come for a longtime. Thus Dr. James Wagner of theE & R Church said, "it will take a halfcentury or a century to feel the fulleffect."

More Restrictions in Egypt

ACCORDING to reports from Beirut inLebanon, the Egyptian government

has taken new steps to restrict the activi­ties of Christian missions in that country.These reports state that all meetings of

143

worship and prayer or revival servicesare banned unless held in governmentlicensed churches. All Sunday sermonsin Protestant churches must be approvedbefore being delivered.

The ban on religious meetings affectsservices which have been held in priv­ate homes or rented quarters, as well asservices of traveling evangelists. Theruling concerning sermons requires thatthe topic of each sermon, with the dateand place of delivery, must be presentedto the Ministry of Social Affairs severaldays in advance.

Another report indicates that there areadditional restrictions on the entranceof foreign teachers for the Christianmission schools of the country. Theseschools have been required to employMoslem Sheikhs to teach the Moslemreligion to Islamic students enrolled inthe schools. Where schools have refusedto accept this arrangement, they havebeen threatened with confiscation. Mostschools, including the United Presby­terian and the Roman Catholic schools,have submitted to the ruling.

The new restrictions concerning teach­ers entering the country specify thatEgyptian consulates must obtain ap­proval from the Department of ForeignSchools before granting visas. This willtake time, and will affect the return ofnumerous teachers who left the countryfor summer vacations.

Still another regulation has made Fri­day the weekly closing day for business.This is the Mohammedan Sabbath. Sun­day has become a regular work-day.Christians have three hours off on Sun­day to attend their services.

holds not the doctrine of Christ, howmuch more sinful it is for a ChristianChurch, through a church controlledschool, to provide facilities for onewho openly rejects and disavows thedoctrine of Christ to teach his Christdenying doctrine to pupils attendingthe school.

Consider again, Second Corinthians6:14,15. "Be ye not unequally yokedtogether with unbelievers: for whatfellowship hath righteousness with un­righteousness? and what communionhath light with darkness? And whatconcord hath Christ with Belial? Orwhat part hath he that believeth withan infidel?" Certainly this is relevant.For what could have less fellowshipthan the glorious righteousness of theGospel of Christ, and the Christ­denying iniquity of Islam? Or whatless communion than the light of God'struth and the darkness of the "revela­tion" purported to have been givento Mohammed?

Protest Called ForOur Lord Jesus chose to gain "all

the kingdoms of the World," not bybowing to Satan as Satan desired, butby the way of the Cross. He wouldobey the "It is written." May thechurch not believe that God will giveit Egypt for Christ, perhaps by way ofgreat loss and apparent defeat, ratherthan to imagine that it can win Egyptfor Christ by compromising the Wordof God to gain privilege from theEgyptian government. Can the churchgive to Mohammed even a little of thehonor which is due to Christ alone?

Are there not individual Christian

missionaries and churches which willflood the Board of the United Presby­terian Church with protests against thishumiliating and Christ-denying sur­render? Are there not presbyteriesenough concerned for the truth thatthey will overture urgent action in thisemergency? Will not the Board itselftake a fresh look at the situation in thelight of God's Word? Or is the situ­ation beyond recall? God grant thatthe present crisis in Egypt, rather thanleading to further decline, may provein His sovereign providence the cir­cumstance that shall rouse some to re­call the church to its great heritage.

Who knows what great deliveranceGod may yet work if all Christians inEgypt would unite in a firm and cour­teous representation to the authoritiesthat their loyalty to their God forbidstheir compliance with the governmentdecree. Then, if the schools be con­fiscated, at least consciences will beclear, Christ will be honored, and con­fident prayer may be offered up to thethrone of grace that God will bringgood out of ill, and certain victory forHis cause.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The substance of theabove article by Mr. Duff was submittedby him to members of the Foreign Mis­sions Board of the United PresbyterianChurch, and Mr. Duff himself held apersonal conference with them concern­ing the Egyptian situation, Though nota missionary in Egypt, he has served inneighboring Ethiopia and Eritrea since1928, and works in an area where thereare many Moslems

Cross or Crescent(Continued from page 133)

God. He that abideth in the doctrine ofChrist, he hath both the Father andthe Son. If there come any unto you,and bring not this doctrine, receivehim not into your house, neither bidhim God speed; for he that biddethhim God speed is partaker of his evildeeds." While very possibly the pri­mary reference of this passage is tochurch discipline and the treatment ofheretics, of those who have turnedfrom the faith, yet if it be wrong fora believer to bid one God speed who

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