Found in a cave in Palestine, this manuscript is thought by many to date from before the. time of Christ.It contains the prophecy of Isaiah, and is here opened at Isaiah 40, which begins with last line of columnat right, and continues in column at left. (See page 167.)

1936·1937MACHEN • EDITOR

September, 1949VOL. re, NO. 9

OLDEST BIBLE MANUSCRIPT?

GRESHAMJ •

162 THE PRESBYTERIAN GU ARDIAN September

AI'

LERoy B. OLIVER.

A prayer suggestionPray daily for the November offering

for Missions.Pray for safe journeys for our return­

ing missionaries, the Stantons and Mr.Gaffin, and for the Mahaffys as theyleave for the field.

statement. He who has no beginningand no end, who is Alpha and Omegais the eternal Son of God. He is theOne who gives Life, for He is theWay, the Truth, and the Life. "He'that hath the Son hath life, and he thathath not the Son of God hath not life."Well has the poet spoken:"Our little systems have their day,

They have their day, and cease to be;They are but broken lights of thee,

But thou, 0 'Lord, art more than they."Death is overwhelmed by Life, life thatis eternal.

But consider the paradox that thisgiver of life was dead. In dying Heforever took the sting out of death. ForHe removed the curse of sin by thesacrifice of Himself. He fought deathwith death. His offering satisfied for­ever the demands-of the law upon Hispeople. They need not die and sufferthe pangs of hell forever, for He con­quered the last enemy of the souls ofmen.

But this Living One did not remaindead. He arose a "victor o'er the darkdomain, and he lives forever with Hissaints to reign." Death could not holdHim. Nor can death hold sway overthose who are in Him. He holds thekeys of Hades and death. He is ourSaviour here and in the life to come.It is not to an endless sleep that welook when this life ends, but to blissfulcommunion with Christ. Since Christholds the authority over death we mustnot fear that realm beyond."So long thy pow'r has blest me, sure

it stillWill lead me on o'er moor and fen,

o'er crag and torrent, tillThe night is gone;And with the morn those angel faces

smile,Which I h~ve ,!oved long since, and lost

awhile.The assuring hand of Christ is upon

us through His Word. For He wouldhave us realize that He is the Over­comer of death. No one who trusts inHim need fear.

T HE annual Opening Exer·cises of Westminster Semin­

ary wil1 be held in theauditorium on Wednesday, Sep­tember 21, at 3 p.m, The Rev.Egbert W. Andrews, missionaryto China, wi11 be the principalspeaker, and his topic wi11 be"School of the Prophets forour Day."

The public is cordially in­vited to attend these exercises.

Opening .Exercises AtWestminster

The Conqueror of. Death

A most magnificent vision is seen byJohn on Patmos, The exalted Son ofman appears in His glory. John isprostrated with fear. But the Lord laysHis hand upon him and reassures himwith the words, "Fear not, I am thefirst and the last; I am he that livethand was dead; and, behold, I am alivefor evermore, Amen; and have the keysof hell and of death."

No mere man could have made this

Friday Revelation 9:1-1ISaturday. . . . Revelation 9:12-21

Sunday Revelation 1O:1-1I

Questions for Sabbath MeditationI. What do the four horsemen of

Revelation 6 represent?2. What blessings await those who

came through great tribulation?3. Did the judgments recorded in

Revelation 9 produce repentance in thehearts of men?

Week of October 24Monday Revelation H:I-12Tuesday . .Revelation H:13-19

Wednesday Revelation 12:1-8Thursday .. .Revelation 12:9-17Friday.. . . .Revelation IJ:I-9Saturday.. . Revelation 13:10-18Sunday Revelation 14:1-8

Questions for Sabbath Meditation1. What is the declaration voiced fol­

lowing the sounding of the seventhangel?

2. To whom does Revelation 12:5refer? Can you think of some events inthe Bible which speak of the dragon'sattempt to devour this child?

3. Who are those who worship theBeast?

Revelation 6:1-8.Revelation 6:9-17

.. Revelation 7. . . . .Revelation 8:1-13

Week of October 17MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursday

Daily Bible Readings

Week of September 26 (cont'd)Saturday I John 4:1-10Sunday. . . . 1 John 4:1I-21

Questions for Sabbath Meditation1. What comfort does John give to

sinners in 2:1, 2?2. When will Christians be made

like unto Christ? What should thishope result in?

3. What is one of the marks ofbeing a true Christian?

Week of October 3Monday I John 5:1-10Tuesday . .1 John 5:1I-21Wednesday II JohnThursday .. . III JohnFriday. . . . . . . Jude 1-9Saturday , ..... Jude 10-25Sunday .Reoelation 1:1-8

Questions for Sabbath Meditation1. Why did John write his epistles?

Find the answer in I John 5.2. Who were the deceivers and anti­

christs spoken of in the second epistleof John?

3. What exhortation did Jude give tohis readers? What does this involvetoday?

Week of October 10Monday .. . .Revelation 1:9-20Tuesday .. . Revelation 2:1-11

Wednesday Revelation 2:12-2 9Thursday Revelation 3:1-13Friday .Revelation 3:14-22,Saturday ... .Revelation 4:1-1 I

Sunday .. Revelation 5: 1 -14

Questions for Sabbath Meditation1. Where was John when he received

the revelation of Jesus Christ? Whywas he there?

2. What good things does the Lordfind in the seven churches of Asia?What bad?

3. Why do the twenty-four eldersascribe praise to Him who sits upon thethrone?

The Presbyterian Guardian is pulJlished monthly by The Presbyterian Guardian Publishing Corporation, 728 Schaff Building, 1505 Race Street, Philadelphia 2, Pa., at thefollowing rates, payable in advance for either old or new subscribers in any part of the world, postage prepaid: $2.00 per year; $1.00 for life months: 20e per singleeepJ. Entered as second class matter March 4, 1931, at the Post OMee at Philadelphia, under the Act of Mareb 3. 1819.

1949 THE PRESBYTERIAN GUARDIAN 163

...

% ~liJdmL.-GUARDIAN

1505 Race Street, Philadelphia 2, Pa,

Leslie W. SloatEditor and Manag,er

John P. ClellandArthur W. Kuschke, Jr.

Robert S. MarsdenContributing Editors

ADVISORY COUNCILRobert L. AtwellLeslie A. Dunn

John Patton GalbraithEdward L. Kellogg

Federal Aid toEducation

TH E astonishing and somewhat be­wildering spectacle of the wife of

a former president of the United Statesbeing publicly denounced as an "un­worthy American Mother" by the sen­ior American .Cardinal of the Romanchurch has done more than anythingelse, perhaps, to attract attention to thepresent battle in Congress over the sub.ject of Federal aid to schools..

The story is really quite simple. Fora number of years efforts have beenmade in Congress to secure federal aidgenerally for the schools of the land.Previously, and again this year, theSenate passed such a bill. But -theHouse has consistently rejected theidea.

This year, while the Senate approvedbill was before the House Committee,a substitute bill was introduc-d byRepresentative Barden. This substitutebill, to sum up briefly, provided forsome 314 million in aid to the schoolsof the states and territories, the aid tobe used for "current expenses" only(not for buildings, transportation,meals etc.), and to be used only intax-supported public schools.

It was this latter point which raisedthe howl, for the Senate bill did notspecify that only public schools wouldbe benefited, indicating that parochialand private schools would be gettingsome of the money. When Barden'sbill was introduced, Cardinal Spellmanimmediately denounced it and all whosupported the idea as bigots, andused other language that, to say the

least, sounded strange coming from thelips of one who is supposedly a Chris­tian minister, and a prince of thechurch. Mrs. Roosevelt became in­volved when she casually supportedBarden in her "column." In a plannedcampaign Catholics all over the coun­try showered congressmen with lettersand telegrams against the Barden bill.Protestants in sizeable numbers passedresolutions supporting the Barden bill.In due time Spellman climbed downa peg and admitted that using federalfunds to pay the salaries. of teachers inCatholic schools would be unconstitu­tional (which Mrs. Roosevelt hadclaimed) and said that all Catholicswere asking for was such things astransportation, meals and similar help(for which the Barden bill made noprovision at all for anybody!) and Mrs.Roosevelt said there might be a goodargument for this on terms of childrenas children, rather than through schoolchannels. And so everybody was happy,and the Barden bill was still bottledup in the Committee, and the Housewent on vacation.

We are opposed to federal aid toprivate and parochial schools. We arealso opposed, though on somewhatdifferent grounds, to federal aid toschools, period. (Though we knowthat both of these already exist, in manyindirect ways.)

We are opposed to federal aid toprivate and parochial religious schoolsbecause it means the use of the federalpower of taxation for the benefit ofspecific .religious groups in the exerciseof religious functions. Neither theCatholic schools, nor Christian schoolsunder parent control, are intended toprovide the substantial equivalent ofthe education given in public schools,but both are religiously motivated andcontrolled.

It is interesting to note that whilethis discussion was going on in Amer­ica, Belgian Catholics were warned bytheir official Council of Bishops againstusing the public schools of that country.And the reason given was specificallythat the only type of school whichCatholics could properly support wasone "directed by a Christian spirit insuch a way that religion be the founda­tion and coronation of all education,"or "a place where the formation ofthe soul. goes along with the develop­ment of the intellectual faculties." This,according to. the Catholic interpretationof Christianity, is what Catholic schools

are. And in much the same way it iswhat, in terms of the Reformed inter­pretation of Christianity (which webelieve is true Christianity) our parentcontrolled Christian schools are.

We believe it is wrong for the Gov­ernment to use its tax powers to takemoney from people of one religiousconviction (or none) and use thatmoney for the religious benefit ofpeople of an altogether different con­viction. We also believe it would bewrong for the Government to tax peo­ple for their own religious benefit(i.e. Catholics for Catholic schools).That would be setting up a religious"establishment." It is forbidden in ourConstitution. It is contrary to Scrip­ture, for the support of the church andreligious work is there declared to reston a voluntary basis, everyone giving"as he purposeth in his heart."

And there are many practical reasonswhy we oppose federal aid to parochialschools, among which are the facts thatsuch aid would necessarily involve ameasure (liable to constant increase)of federal control, and would also beexcessively expensive. Our oppositionto federal aid to public schools is morein terms of oppositon to federal bureau­cracy and to an expansion of presentsocialistic and paternalistic patterns ofgovernment.

We believe it will be a sad day forChristian education in this countryif the boards of our Christian schoolsstart depending on the federal govern­ment for funds to carry on their work.Any seeming enlargement of servicethat might result would be at theexpense of yielding up an increasingmeasure of control over the educationalprogram, and would open the way forthe complete destruction of that educa­tional program in the hands of an un­friendly government. Let's keep, andkeep supporting, our Christian schools!

L. W. S.

Rattling the Bones!

TH E Roman Catholic Churchclaims to trace its origin from

the apostle Peter, the "chief" of theapostles. The Catholics claimed thatPeter came to Rome, during his life­time, started the church there, was itsfirst "bishop," and thus established theprimacy of the Roman See for theChristian church throughout the world.The present Pope claims to occupy

164 THE PRESBYTERIAN GUARDIAN September

supposing they are Peter'sThey prove one thing and one

the office in true succession fromPeter.

However, there is little positive evi­dence to show that Peter ever was inRome, much less that he started thechurch or was a bishop there. Itseems very strange, for example, thatPaul, writing to the church at Rome,never mentions Peter, if Peter hadfounded the church or was in Rome atthe time. And it seems strange thatPeter in his letters doesn't mentionbeing in Rome, and that elsewhere inthe New Testament there is no sugges­tion of a connection between Peterand the church at Rome. Argumentfrom silence though this may be, it isstill a strong argument.

Romanism has long claimed thatPeter died and was buried in Rome,and that the present Cathedral of St.Peter is located over that burial place.For some years excavations have beengoing on below the cathedral, sup­posedly to make room for the gravesof future popes, but largely also to seeif the tomb of Peter could be found.The whole thing, however, has beenon a hush-hush basis.

Finally on August 22 the New YorkTimes carried a front page story to theeffect that the tomb had presumablybeen found. The workmen had allbeen sworn to secrecy. The report wasbeing set up in type and the printerswere sworn to secrecy. The Pope wasgoing to make the announcement inconnection with the start of his "jubi­lee" year, 1950. But the Times re­porter had been able, by putting twoand two together, to reach the con­clusion that the tomb had been found,right where it was supposed to be,exactly under the main altar of St.Peter's.

The fact that some bones were foundis not strange, for the whole area isknown to be a burial ground. Thatthey are Peter's bones we may be per­mitted to doubt. It is said that coinsfrom the time when Peter supposedlypreached in Rome were found scatteredin the same tomb. But this provesnothing at all. Even Catholics admitthat Peter was not buried in this spotoriginally, but was buried elsewhereand later moved here-several centurieslater at that-so if this is an originalfirst century grave that would argueagainst rather than for the bones beingPeter's.

Butbones?

Please Note!

MAYBE the fact that it was August,and that a three week trip to

California is no vacation, provides anexplanation. But we were grieved todiscover a couple of errors in theAugust GUARDIAN, after it had beenpublished.

So please note, that the birthday ofthe youngest Stanton child should begiven as July 2, not June I. Some day,when the young lady grows up, thatmay be important. Her name is Cor­nelia Ruth.

And then a single line of type inDr. Stonehouse's article got misplaced.On page 154, near the bottom of thefirst column, the line "involved. ButI am clear in judging," now 21 linesup from the bottom, should be just fivelines from the bottom, so that the con­clusion of that last sentence wouldread, "... and I do not claim to be ina position to judge on the merits of allthat is involved. But I am clear injudging that while unity must besought in the truth, unity in the truthmust be sought if one is to be true tothe King of the Church." This makessense. It didn't before.

Sorry.

only. They prove that Peter was aman, that he died, and was buried,and that his body-in sharp contrast tothat of our Lord-saw corruption.Neither our religion nor our c.iurch isfounded on one who died and whosebody saw corruption. It is founded onOne who died and who rose again, andwho is the only Mediator between Godand man, even Jesus Christ our Lord.

True, the meaning of His personand work was interpreted for us by theapostles, including Peter but chieflyPaul. But their interpretation, as givenin Scripture, is accepted not because oftheir inherent authority, but becausethey, like the prophets of old, wereborne along by the Holy Spirit. Paulassured us that his apostleship was "notfrom men, neither through a man."And Peter termed Scripture a "moresure word of prophecy" than even hisremembrance of the voice he had heardon the Mount of Transfiguration.

The Catholic church will, as onlythe Catholic church knows how, rattlethe bones of "Peter" and call on all theworld to listen. Many people will

undoubtedly be impressed. We mayexpect to hear of new converts toCatholicism. Meanwhile the trueG~urch of Jesus .Christ, proclaiming thefaith set forth III Holy Scripture, willcontinue it~ triumphant march throughth~ centunes under the leadership ofHIm whose name is "The Word ofGod," and whose robe is "dipped III

blood."L. W. S.

Geerhardus Yos

ON August 13, 1949, Dr. GeerhardusVas, formerly Professor of Biblical

Theology in Princeton TheologicalSeminary, died. He was 87 years ofage.

Born in Holland in 1862, Dr. Voscame to this country when his fatheraccepted a call to a church in GrandRapids in 1881. He took two yearsat the Christian Reformed Seminarythere, and two years at PrincetonSeminary. Granted a scholarship, hestudied abroad at the universities ofBerlin and Strassburg. In 1888 hebegan his teaching career at the Sem­inary in Grand Rapids..

It was five years later, in 1893, thathe accepted the call to the newl y estab­Iished chair of Biblical Theology inPrinceton, and he remained there untilretirement in 1932, when he was 70years old. At Princeton he was a dis­tinguished member of a distinguishedfaculty which, during his period there,included such names as B. B. Warfield,C. W. Hodge, Robert Dick Wilson,W. Brenton Greene, William HenryGreen, Oswald T. Allis and J. GreshamMachen.

When Princeton was reorganizedrn 1929 Dr. Vos, then within threeyears of retirement, chose to remain,though his theological convictionswere those of historic Calvinism.When he retired in 1932, he left alarge part of his valuable library toWestminster Seminary.

His scholarly Biblical writings havemade the Christian world his debtor.Among the best known are The Teach­ing of Jesus Concerning the Kingdomof God and the Church, The Self Dis­closure of Jesus, Biblical Theology,and Pauline Eschatology (long out ofprint but soon to be republished).

His wife, Mrs. Catherine Vos, authorof the well-known Child's Story Bible,died a number of years ago.

1949 THE PRESBYTERIAN GU ARDIAN 165

Reaching People -with the GospelA. Study in Methods of Evangelism

TH E term "group" evangelism isused in contradistinction from

"mass" evangelism. "Mass" evangel­ism may be defined as the effort tobring the gospel to a large gatheringof all types of people, young and old,men and women, educated and un­educated, rich and poor. "Group"evangelism is more specialized in itsobjective. It aims to bring the gospelto small groups, organized or assem­bled according to interest, ability andage levels.

Neither one of these methods shouldbe used to the exclusion of the other.The cause of evangelism is best served,we believe, when "mass" and "group"evangelism are used to supplement eachother. There is a work to be accom­plished by each that cannot be mosteffectively accomplished by the other.

"Group" evangelism is based uponboth the revelation of Scripture and ofnature. Christ spoke to a small groupof mothers and children as well as tothe multitudes. Paul sought out Lydiawith her group of praying women bya riverside at Philippi, as well as largergatherings. Paul encountered andevangelized a specific class, the Epi­curean and Stoic philosophers atAthens, as well as the more generaltype of audience which gathered inthe synagogues of that day. It is evi­dent that the Apostles were indeedquite zealous that the gospel be carriedinto every stratum of society. By seek­ing out specific classes of people and

. addressing themselves to the particularneeds of these people, the Apostles wereable not only to reach more people,but to reach them more effectively withthe gospel. One of the distinct advan­tages of "group" evangelism is that itenables the evangelist to reach certainclasses of people more effectively ontheir own level,

This type of evangelism is also basedon sound psychology. It is a spirituallaw in the natural world that peoplegravitate to each other according- toage, interest and ability levels. Chil­dren take naturally to children, youngpeople to young people, elderly peopleto elderly people. For example, whenwe call with our family upon anotherfamily, it is observed how readily the

younger children of one family gravi­tate to the younger children of theother family, and how the older chil­dren from these respective familiessoon pair off together. It is this lawat work in the natural world thatbreaks society down into countlessgroups according to social, educationaland interest levels. The intelligentChristian worker will recognize thatthis law is at work in the world. He

TH E Committee on Local Evan­gelism of The Orthodox Pres­

byterian Church presented to therecent GeneralAssembly two studies,one dealing with "Group Evangel­ism" and the other with "CircuitMissions." Believing both of thesereports to be of special interestand value, we have arranged fortheir publication in the GUARDIAN.

We present herewith the first ofthese reports, dealing with "GroupEvangelism."

will seek to capitalize upon this phe­nomenon in the physical world anduse it for the furtherance of the King­dom of God. He will seek throughstudy and observation to discover howthis law operates and how it can bemost effectively employed to implementthe teaching of the gospel of JesusChrist.

The Pre-school Age GroupToo long have many Christians mini­

mized the potentialities of the pre­school age child in learning the truthof the gospel. For years Rome hasboastfully operated on the principle:"Give us a child until he is seven yearsold and we don't care who has himafter that." Undeniably they havemade good their boast. This periodconstitutes the most. impressionableperiod of the child's life. During noperiod of a child's life can and doesa child learn more than during thisperiod. This fact should be reckonedwith not only in the teaching of thecovenant youth but also in the evan­gelistic efforts of the church. Nowherein the field of evangelistic endeavormay we expect to be more richly re­warded for our efforts than among

these young children.The process of evangelizing these

small children begins at birth. EverySabbath school should have a strongcradle roll department. It is one ofthe most effective fields of labor inbuilding a strong church. The oneplaced in charge of this departmentshould not only love very small chil­dren but should qualify as a personalworker with mothers. The task ofthis person is to visit the homes wherebabies have been born recently. Thepurpose of this visitation is to gainthe parents' consent to enroll the childas a member of the cradle roll depart­ment of the Sabbath school. This con­tact with the mothers of small childrenaffords abundant opportunity for coun­sel concerning the spiritual welfare ofthe child's soul. It frequently affordsopportunity for personal work by analert pastor or cradle roll superinten­dent with the parents. As a rule,young parents are much more receptive"to the gospel than later when thechildren are grown. They have wit­nessed the wonder of the little newlife God has given them. Their heartsare tender, and frequently they respondto the worker's appeal to them to makesure that provision is made not onlyfor the child's physical and educationalwell-being, but for that which is ofinfinitely more importance, its spirit­ual welfare. Remembrance of thechild's birthday, provision of helpfulChristian booklets for mothers of smallchildren, and occasional gatherings forthe mothers with their children willhelp to cement their interest in attend­ing the Sabbath school when the childis older. As soon as the child can talkwell, the parent should be encouragedto bring (not send) the child to theSabbath school. Normally a childshould be promoted from the cradleroll to the beginners' department whenfour years old.

The Summer Bible School, as wellas the Sabbath school, is a most effec­tive means of reaching children of pre­school age. The advantage of theSummer Bible School is that attractiveelements, such as games at recess, canbe included which cannot be employedon the Lord's Day. It is the usual

166 THE PRESBYTERIAN GUARDIAN September

More New ModernismAt O.d Princeton

experience of those who conduct daily. vacation Bible schools that they canalways reach a considerable number ofchildren through this means whomthey had not been able to reachthrough the Sabbath school. The newcontacts afforded through the SummerBible School should be visited in aneffort to interest them in the Sabbathschool. Not a few ministers in theOrthodox Presbyterian Church testifythat the Summer Bible School hasbeen one of the most effective meansof building up not only their Sabbathschool but also the church. Manyparents have become interested in thegospel and the church of Christthrough the contacts afforded by theSummer Bible School.

It is essential that materials be usedin both the Sabbath school and Sum­mer Bible School which are soundpedagogically as well as doctrinally.The Committee on Christian Educa­tion of the Orthodox PresbvterianChurch has made a careful study ofthe methods of teaching children. Thebeginners' lessons, published by thisCommittee, combine the most effectivemethods of teaching with truly evan­gelical and Reformed content. There isa series of lessons for the Sabbath schooland another series of lessons for Sum­mer Bible School.

Grade School ChildrenAges six to eight. At this age the

child has a vivid imagination, learnsmore readily through the eye, and isquite active. Sabbath school and Sum­mer Bible School materials for thisage group should emphasize the tell­ing of Bible stories, the employmentof word pictures and Hannelgraph pic­tures, and provide some helpful activitysuch as the coloring of Bible story pic­tures. The materials published by ourChristian Education Committee for thisage group include these important fea­tures and should prove most helpfulin reachingahd holding children atthis age.

Conducting "child evangelism"classes in private homes is also aneffective way of reaching children atthis age. These classes can mostprofitably be held in homes locatedin unchurched neighborhoods or whereparents have a strong prejudice againstpermitting their children to go to achurch. These child evangelism classes,however, should never be permitted

to become an end in themsel ves apartfrom the church of Christ. They shouldbe used not as a substitute for the'church, but as a feeder for the church.Care should be taken to use materialsthat are truly Reformed in content andmethod.

Another very effective means ofreaching a child of this age with thegospel is by the placing of .such booksas Miss Marian Schooland's and Mrs.Catherine Vos's Bible story books inhomes. Some of our ministers arefinding parents eager to know about agood Bible story book for their child.One minister has sold some twenty­four copies of Bible story books toparents. This method has the advan­tage of reaching the parents along withthe children.

New Theology Professor IsAdherent of Barthian Position

T H E developments at PrincetonTheological Seminary since its re­

organization in 1929 no doubt continueto interest all those who love the Chris­tian faith. These developments havebeen not merely in the direction ofLutheranism or Arminianism. Theyhave not been merely in the way ofunsoundness at one or another point ofdoctrine. They have rather been de­structive of the foundation of the Chris­tian faith itself. It is, to be sure, notthe old liberalism that has invaded theivy-covered halls. It is the new liberal­ism, the liberalism connected with thenames of Karl Barth and Emil Brun­ner, that has found entrance there.

Fresh evidence of this appears in therecent appointment of the Rev. GeorgeS. Hendry, B.D., of Bridge of Allan,Stirlingshire, to the Charles HodgeChair of Systematic Theology.

Charles Hodge was one of the great­est systematic theologians of moderntimes. The man about to occupy thechair named after him does not believein systematic theology at all. He isnot merely indifferent to systematictheology, but rejects it with vigour.He hails with enthusiasm the move­ment of thought associated with thenames of Barth and Brunner, and says:

Probably the most thorough andsatisfactory way of evangelizing chil­dren when they reach school age is bymeans of the Christian day school.While these schools exist primarily forthe covenant youth, they have greatpotentialities for reaching non-Chris­tian children. A large Lutheran churchin Pittsburgh uses its Christian schoolin large measure as a missionary enter­prise, and quite successfully so. Chris­tian day schools should be started forevangelistic as well as educational pur­poses and where these schools alreadyexist, more thought might well begiven to ways and means of interestingAmerica's many nominal Christianparents in the advantages of a Christianday school.

(To be continued)

By C. VAN TIL

"The principle feature of this newdirection of thought by which it ismost definitely distinguished from allphilosophy and metaphysical specula­tion is that it cannot and does notseek to become a completed system"(God the Creator, Nashville, 1938,p. 144)·

Hendry does not merely disapproveof philosophical systems. T heologica!system is for him no better than philo­sophical system. Hendry does notmerely mean that non-Christian sys­tems are evil. Christian systems oftheology are for him a contradictionin terms: Christianity and the idea ofsystem, he asserts, are mutually exclu­sive. Hendry does not merely meanthat systems which seek to be com­prehensive are bad; for him every sys­tem must, in the nature of the case,seek to be comprehensive, and there­fore bad.

The reason for rejecting system,argues Hendry, is that it is destructiveof the idea of revelation. Revelationitself presents no system. "It is im­possible to seek a unified, systematicconception of reality in view of therevelation of God" (Idem p. 146).Revelation does not even furnish thebuilding blocks with which a system

....

1949 THE PRESBYTERIAN GUARDIAN 167

Ancient Manuscripts ShedLight on BibleScrolls of 2,000 Years AgoDiscovered in Cave by Arabs

of theology might be built. "In Chris­tian faith revelation bears its strictand essential meaning, a drawing backof the veil to disclose something whichcould not otherwise be known to all.It is not a category or mode of viewingreality, but an event, single, unique,once for all" (Idem p. 24f).

What then will Professor Hendryteach? Will he tell his students thatthe Bible is merely the record of humanexperience? Not at all. He will assurethem that the liberal view of the Bible,taken by itself, is quite wrong. Hewill even tell them that there is anelement of truth in "dogmatic ortho­doxy," albeit in a perverted form (Idemp. 20). "Thus it is proper to say thatthe Bible is the Word of God" ("TheRediscovery of the Bible," in Reforma­tion Old and New, ed. by F. W. Cam­field, London, 1947, p. 150). But the"perverted form" of the "elements oftruth" in a theology such as that ofHodge must be rejected. We must haveno doctrines of verbal or plenary in­spiration of Scripture. We must haveno finished canon of Scripture. Wemust have no doctrine of a direct revel­ation of God in Scripture. "For theunity of Scripture is not that of logicalconsistency, inherent in the text andcapable of being presented in the formof a Scriptural systematic. It is rathera unity of direction or perspective, be­cause the unifying centre of Scriptureis outside of Scripture itself; it standsat the 'vanishing point of the Biblicalperspectives'" ("The Exposition of HolyScripture" in Scottish Journal of The­010gy' Vol. I, No. I, p. 43). "TheScripture belongs to the realm of fleshand blood, and flesh and blood cannotreveal that Jesus is the Christ: 'noman can say that Jesus is the Lordbut by the Holy Ghost' (I Cor. 12:3)"(Idem p. 43). The reality of the revel­ation of God is not contained in theBible. "It is present in the Bible onlyas the centre round which the testi­mony of the Bible turns; it standsat the vanishing point of the Biblicalperspectives" (The Rediscovery of theBible, p. 154)'

Of two things we may be quite sure.The new incumbent of the chair of sys­tematic theology in Princeton will ineffect utterly reject the system of the­ology as taught by Hodge. He willalso reject the view of Scripture asthe source of that system of theology.

Of course this does not preclude the

possibility of his claiming a kinshipwith his great predecessor. Dialecticaltheologians are wont to speak of them­selves as working in the Reformed tra­dition. Hendry himself speaks asthough his teaching and that of Calvinabout the Holy Spirit and His internaltestimony were identical in content(Idem p. 147). Nothing could be fur­ther from the truth. When Calvinspeaks of the internal testimony of theSpirit to the truth of God's Word, hedoes not lead us to the "vanishing pointof the Biblical perspectives." On the

TH OSE who love the Bible as theWord of God are always interested

when they hear of new discoverieswhich bear upon the Scriptures. Atpresent there is considerable discussionin certain magazines and journals abouta number of ancient manuscripts whichhave recently been brought to the atten­tion of the religious world. Some whohave examined these manuscripts assertthat they are very old, some of themeven belonging to the second centurybefore Christ. Others are not con­vinced that they are pre-Christian inorigin. What are these manuscriptsand what is their importance?

The Manuscript FindThe account of the discovery of these

The Christian W orld was arouseda number of months ago by reportsthat some very ancient Bible manu­scripts had been dug up in a cavenear the Dead Sea in Palestine.Although published informationcontinues to be scanty, enough hasappeared to form the basis for cau­tious judgments concerning thisdiscovery.

The material in the accompanyingarticle is taken by Professor Younglargely from the Bulletin of theAmerican Schools of Oriental Re­search and The Biblical Archeolo­gist. The report on this find will becontinued in a later issue. of theGUARDIAN.

contrary according to Calvin the Spirittestifies to a direct and finished revela­tion of God that is contained in Scrip­ture. The difference is basic. Thetheology of Calvin and of Hodge istruly a "theology of the Word." Thetheology of Hendry, as well as of Barthand Brunner, is that of Mysticism.Hodge led his students into the fullnessof the revelation of God and Christas found in nature and Scripture.Hendry will lead his students to thevanishing point of all intelligent speech,peering into "Chaos and old Night."

By EDWARD J. YOUNG

manuscripts makes fascinating reading.Duri~g the month of February 1948,the director of the American School ofOriental Research in Jerusalem, Dr.Millar Burrows, left the school for atwo-week trip to Iraq. On Wednesdayafternoon, February 18, Dr. John C.Trever, a Fellow at the school, whomDr. Burrows had left in temporarycharge, was informed that a priest ofthe Syrian Orthodox Convent of St.Marks, Father Butros Sowmy, was onthe telephone and wanted to talk aboutsome ancient scrolls which were in thelibrary of the convent. At two-thirtythe next afternoon Father Sowmy cameto the school and produced five scrollsand a small fragment. Among thesethe most important and significant wasa copy of the entire book of Isaiah.The story of the discovery of thesetreasures is as follows:

During 1947 some Bedouin foundthe manuscript in a cave in the wilder­ness by the Dead Sea, a place knownas Ain Faschkha. Thinking that thescrolls were Syriac, they took them toa merchant in Bethlehem who belongedto the Syrian community. The Bethle­hem merchant told a Jerusalem mer­chant, also a member of the Syriancommunity, about the find. This lat­ter, during the Holy Week festivals(April 1947) told the Syrian Arch­bishop of Jerusalem and Transjordan,Mar Athanasius Y. Samuel, about thefind, stating that the scrolls had beenwrapped like mummies. The Arch-

168 THE P·RESBYTERIAN GUARDIAN September

bishop was interested and endeavoredto see the scrolls.

A few days later both merchantsappeared before the Archbishop withone of the scrolls. He recognized thatthe writing was not Syriac, but He­brew. It was some weeks later, how­ever, before the Bedouin finally broughtthe scrolls to the convent. However,when three of the Bedouin did finallyappear, they were so rough looking,and the scrolls which they had wereso dirty that the gatekeeper refusedthem entrance into the convent. TheBedouin later became separated withthe result that some of the scrolls foundtheir way ultimately to the HebrewUniversity at Jerusalem rather than tothe American School of Oriental Re­search. One of the Bedouin took thescrolls which he had to the MoslemSheikh at Bethlehem, and thus theywere lost to the American School.

Two weeks later, however, two ofthe Bedouin returned, and the Arch.bishop purchased five scrolls and a fewfragments which they had with them.At the direction of the Archbishop apriest was sent with the Jerusalemmerchant to investigate the cave inwhich the manuscripts had been found.He brought back the report that thefloor of the cave was strewn with piecesof manuscripts and cloth beside brokenjars.

In September 1947 the Rev. J. vander Ploeg, a Roman Catholic scholarand author of a very worthwhile bookupon the subject of the Servant of theLord in the prophecy of Isaiah, exam­ined the scrolls and declared that thelargest was the book of Isaiah. Appar­ently, then, van der Ploeg was thefirst to identify the Isaiah manuscript.When he later mentioned the find atthe Dominican School in Jerusalem,however, he was told that the scrollscould not be as old as he had daredto think.

The Archbishop continued to believethat the discoveries were very old. Afriend sought to dissuade him, but headhered to his convictions, md finally,at the suggestion of the Rev. ButrosSowmy, a Syrian priest who Was killedin May 1948 when the convent wasshelled, decided to approach the Ameri­can School in Jerusalem.

The American SchoolManuscripts-Isaiah

Dr. Trever relates that when he firstsaw the long scroll, he compared it

with a slide of the Nash Papyrus, andthus was convinced of its antiquity.Most important of these scrolls whichwere brought to the American Schoolis this long manuscript of the book ofIsaiah. This is a parchment consistingof fifty-four columns and containing,apart from a few minor exceptions, theentire Biblical book of Isaiah. It isabout ten and one-quarter inches inheight and consists of seventeen sheetssewn together. The material is saidto be either rough parchment or animalskins carefully prepared so as to ap­proach the refinement of parchment.These sheets vary in their length andconsequently in the number of columnswhich are written upon them. Two ofthese sheets have only two columns ofwriting, whereas ten sheets have threecolumns and five have four columns.The columns also vary in their width,the narrowest being but a little underfour inches and the widest about sixand one half inches.

When Dr. Trever first saw the scroll,the last two columns, i. e., 54 and 53,had separated from the remainder.The thread which held them togetherhad disintegrated, and since these twocolumns were on the outside, column54 was particularly worn as a resultof handling. However, from column52 to column 9 the scroll was intact,but columns 8 to I were fragile and infragmentary condition. At one timethere was a cover sewn over the manu­script, for the needle holes and evenpieces of thread on the first sheet bearwitness to this fact. Needless to say,the cover is now lost.

To date very little of this preciousmanuscript has been published. Thepresent writer has seen only the photo­graphs which have been printed in theBulletin of the American Schools ofOriental Research. One of these isparticularly striking. It is a photo­graph of column 33 and on this col­umn there is written the text of Isaiah40:2b-28a. The top line reads as fol­lows: "-that her warfare is accom­plished, that her iniquity is pardoned,that she hath received of the Lord'shand double for all-." This will givethe reader an idea of how long a lineis. This first line actually containstwelve Hebrew words. In the presentwriter's opinion, the handwriting upond.c: scroll-at least upon that portionof the scroll which he has seen-isbeautifully done. The letters are clearand easy to read and only occasionally

does there appear to be crowding orerror of spacing. It is interesting tonote that the scribe used a line bywhich to measure the tops of the let­ters. We write "on the line," anduse the line to guide the bottom of ourletters, but the scribe of this manuscriptdid the opposite. He used his guidingline to regulate the tops of the letters.Only one letter, the Hebrew "L," calledlamedth, extends above the line. Theresult is quite a pleasing effect. Thelines are well spaced, and there aretwenty-nine of them in column 33.

The words are also well spaced sothat in reading one has no difficulty.Chapter and verse divisions are not in­dicated, but there is a system of para­graphs. A paragraph begins, however,not by indenting a new line, but simplyby not filling out completely the lastline of the preceding paragraph. Thenew paragraph begins right at the edgeof the margin, without any indentingwhatsoever. There are some exceptionsto this rule, but they occur usuallywhere the line of the previous para­graph is full. Those of us who havefollowed the news of this discoveryfrom the beginning are eagerly await­ing the time when this entiremanuscript will be photographed andpublished. Apparently it is the oldestcopy of the book of Isaiah in existence,and its value for the study of the Bibleis indeed great. In a subsequentarticle we shall consider that valuemore fully.

The Remaining ManuscriptsThe next scroll IS considerably

smaller in size than the large Isaiahmanuscript. It contains only elevencolumns, and is written in a beautifulHebrew script upon five sheets ofparchment. When first seen at theAmerican School, it was in two piecesand required considerable repairing.There appears, however, to have beenno evidences of repair in ancient times,and apparently this shorter scroll re­ceived far less handling than did thatof Isaiah. The scribe was not the sameas the one who wrote the Isaiah scroll,but it has been suggested that the twoare from the same general period.

At present this scroll is known as"The Sectarian Document," and it isthought to be a manual of discipline ofsome group within Judaism, possiblycontaining the oath of initiation. Ina subsequent article we shall have moreto say about the content of the "Sec-

1949 THE PRESBYTERIAN GUARDIAN 169

When the CommunistsTook Shanghai

...

tarian Document."The third scroll is identified as a

commentary upon the book of Habak­kuk. Through the ages, this scroll hasbeen badly damaged, the damage, how­ever, being due more to worms than toage.. The handwriting is said to be themost beautifully preserved of any. Thetotal length is five feet, and there arenow thirteen columns of writing.

The fourth scroll which was broughtto the American School was in a badstate of preservation and at first wasnot unrolled. I have read, however,that it has been examined and that itis written in Aramaic, resembling theApocryphal book of Enoch in itscontents.

In addition to these four scrolls therewas a tiny fragment of leather, approxi­mately two and one-half inches byone and two-thirds inches in size. Twowords in Aramaic have been made out,but whether this fragment is actuallya part of the fourth scroll or not, seemsat present difficult to determine.

So much, then for a description of

I begin this record on the evening ofthe day in which the Communists

entered this great city of over fivemillion persons. It has indeed beenone of the most eventful days since Icame back to China almost two yearsago.

For the past three weeks the Com­munists have been drawing closer andcloser. Over a week ago we began tohear the sound of artillery fire to thesouth and west, and up to yesterdayit increased in intensity as each daypassed. To this background of can­nonading was added the frequentsound of the bombing planes of theChinese air force. Curfew was movedup from eleven to ten and then to nineand finally last night to eight p. m.In spite of all this confusion and un­certainty we carried on our daily meet­ings with the students from eight inthe morning until just before curfewtime at night. We have had somewonderful times with the students andhave seen the Lord working in theirhearts and out into their lives as we

the manuscripts which were brought tothe American School in Jerusalem.When the reader learns that competentscholars are asserting that the manu­script of Isaiah belongs to the secondcentury B. C., he will immediatelyperceive how important these scrollsare. Is this judgment, however, cor­rect? It has been challenged, and thechallenge has come from men who areexpertly qualified to pronounce ajudgment.

In a subsequent article we shall firstseek to describe the manuscripts whichfound their way into the HebrewUniversity of Jerusalem. Then weshall endeavor to acquaint the readerwith the discussion and controversywhich has been carried on with respectto these remarkable manuscripts.Lastly, we shall endeavor, in a cau­tious manner, to indicate what webelieve the importance of these scrollsto be. In doing this, we shall speakmore particularly of the Isaiah manu-cript.

(To Be Continued.}

By RICHARD B. GAFFIN

have taught and read the Word withthem.

Last night we went to bed with thesound of shelling punctured with burstsof machine gun fire but still sometwo or three miles away. We feltthat this might be the time when theCommunists would break through,even though during the day the author­ities were trying vainly to bolster upthe morale of the people with a paradeand false reports about crack troopshaving come from Formosa to defendthe city "to the last man." At twoa. m, I was suddenly awakened bythe noise of machine gun and riflefire which I knew to be less than amile away, so I knew the Communistshad broken through and the streetfighting had started. Of course I ex­pected the fighting to get closer, butit did not come our way, and afterabout an hour it died away, but therumble of firing to the northeast con­tinued on as I dozed and woke inter­mittently until daylight.

Now the streets were very quiet yet

not deserted for there were some vege­table and produce sellers to be seen,and I was told the Communists hadcome in during the early hours of themorning, and the Nationalists had re­treated to the north. I was not ableto go out until late in the afternoon,for in spite of the conditions studentscame for Bible classes. One of mystudents from Comluck Restaurantcame to see how I was and anotherfrom the Shanghai Medical College.We were all thankful that the inevit­able turnover took place without anygreat damage and as far as we knowwithout any loss of civilian life. Nowwe shall have the chance to see ChineseCommunism in action at close range.I went out in the afternoon and foundthe streets filled with people, and thingslooked like it was a special holiday.Slogans castigating Chiang Kai Shekand The Four Families (Chiang, Soon,Kung and Chen) had be pasted up andmore were being put up by a gang ofhigh school boys who were having agreat time. I went out on my bike,and it was not long before I had myfirst look at Communist soldiers. Theylooked pretty tired and dirty, not anydifferent from the Nationalists exceptthat their uniforms were a lightergreen and their caps were plain with­out any insignia. I stopped and talkedwith one who was standing guard atan intersection. He was quite friendlyand told me he was from Shantung.He too was tired looking with eyeswhich were very bloodshot. The mostpitiful sight was a group of Nationalistswho had been relieved of their weaponsand were wandering around aimlessly.Some were wounded.

At one place an armoured car wasstanding in the middle of the street.Communist slogans had been pastedon it and children were having agrand time playing in and on it. Itis quiet now, but the rumble of gunscan be heard in the distance as theNationalists are covering up their re­treat to Woosung where as many ascan will try to escape by ship. Thesky is reflecting the fires which areraging out there, and we are prayingfor the safety of those we know wholive out there.

The Communists have promisedfreedom to all and protection to allforeigners. They have told the workersto carryon their work and the studentsto return to their classes. This is justthe beginning of the new order.

170 THE PRESBYTERIAN GUARDIAN

The Glory of the Christian ChurchBy the REV. PROFESSOR R. B. KUIPER

September

XXIVTHE OFFICE OF THE

RUlJNG ELDER

All three of the special offices in thechurch represent Christ the Head ofthe church. The teaching elder' rep­resents Him as prophet, the deaconrepresents Him as priest, and the rul­ing elder represents Him as king.Nations that have a king customarilyspeak of him as "His Majesty". Andanybody at all familiar with Holy Scrip­ture knows that it too associates muchmajesty, dignity, honor and glory withkingship. Small wonder that the gloryof the Christian church is reflectedbrightly in the office of the ruling elder.

Its Momentous DutiesThe New Testament has two names

for ruling elders. Sometimes they arecalled presbyters, which simply meansolder men or elders; at other times they

.are called bishops, which means over­seers. It is significant that these aretwo names for the same men. Nowa­days the term bishop is ordinarily usedto denominate a clergyman who standsabove other clergymen in both dignityand authority. But such is not at allthe Biblical usage of that term. WhenPaul, on his way to Jerusalem at theconclusion of his third missionaryjourney, arrived at Miletus, he "sentto. Ephesus and called the presbytersof the church." When they had comehe spoke to them, and among otherthings he said: "Take heed thereforeunto yourselves and unto the flock, overwhich the Holy Ghost hath made youbishops" (Acts 20:17,28). It is clearthat according to Scripture every elderis a bishop. And that is a way ofsaying that the work of the elder is tooversee the church.

Usually church members regard rul­ing elders less highly than ministers.In doing so they are not altogethermistaken, for it is true that a specialdignity attaches to the ministerial officein virtue of the fact that the minister,being both a teaching and a rulingelder, holds two offices in one, whichtwo offices take up, or ought to takeup, all his time. On the other hand,

there is great danger that the dignityof the ruling elder's office in com­parison with that of the minister's officewill be underestimated.

Frequently the work of the rulingelder and that of the minister overlap.The ruling elder may not leave thecomforting of the distressed and thecorrecting of the erring exclusively tothe minister, for he himself too is ashepherd or pastor. When, in Acts20:28, Paul exhorted the Ephesianelders to take heed to the "flock," heevidently thought of the members ofthe church as sheep and of the eldersas shepherds. The ruling elder isalso a teacher. When, in the sameverse, Paul enjoined the Ephesianelders to "feed" the church he un­doubtedly had reference to the Wordof God, for it is the only spiritual foodthat God has provided for His people.Therefore, when the minister is absent,it is highly proper for a ruling elder toread a sermon in a service of publicworship or even to "exhort" the con­gregation with a discourse of his ownmaking.

In a very real sense the ruling eldereven stands above the teaching elder.One of his most solemn duties is tooversee the life and work of the min.ister. If the minister fails to lead anexemplary life, the ruling elders of thechurch must correct him. If he is notas diligent in his pastoral work as heought to be, they should spur him onto greater zeal. If his preaching islacking in that passion which mustcharacterize all preaching of the Wordof God, they should take steps to over­come that defect. And if his preach­ing in any respect, whether great orsmall, is not according to the Scrip­tures, they may not rest until thatevil has been remedied.

If that makes the work of the rulingelder both important and difficult­and it most certainly does-he hasother duties that are nothing short ofmomentous. It is his task either toaccept or to reject applicants for churchmembership and to exercise judicialdiscipline upon the erring membersof the church.

What a responsibility, when someoneexpresses the desire to become a com­municant member of Christ's church,to accept him as such. Likewise, whata responsibility it is to reject him.

. Well may these tasks be performedwith fear and trembling. Because theelders cannot look into the hearts ofmen, they can never be altogether cer­tain of the proper course. The appli­cant who uses pious terminology gliblymay be a hypocrite, whereas the appli­cant who has to be "pumped" to say

. anything at all may be a true child ofGod. Because of this difficulty, whichis truly insuperable, it is not unusualfor elders to let the matter go at takingthe applicant's word for it that hebelieves in the Lord Jesus Christ. Butobviously that will never do. Almostany Modernist will vow that he believesin Jesus, and even among self-styledFundamentalists there is no perfectunanimity as to what is saving faith .The applicant should be closely ques­tioned concerning three matters. First,the elders must find out whether hepossesses the doctrinal knowledge thatis prerequisite to saving faith. Forbut one example, if he does not knowthat Jesus is God, he must certainly berejected. In the second place, theelders must seek to discover whetherthe faith which he claims to have istruly saving faith. For instance, ifhe trusts at all in his own works orcharacter for salvation, he must berefused. Thirdly, the elders mustascertain whether he brings forth thefruits of faith in his life; in otherwords, whether he honors Christ notonly as Saviour but also as Lord. Inbrief, the elders must do all that ishumanly possible to determine whetheror not the applicant is a Christian.

No less heavy is the responsibility ofexercising judicial discipline. Also inthis matter the elders do not dare toclaim infallibility. Therefore manyneglect this duty altogether and salvetheir consciences by referring to thewell known but little understood par­able of the tares. The truth is thatthis parable is not at all meant todiscourage the exercise of discipline but

rI~j

1949 THE PRESBYTERIAN GU ARDIA,N 171

.;\

"-

is a warning against excesses in disci­pline. Scripture teaches most emphati­cally that church members who errin either doctrine or life must be dis.ciplined. Paul sharply commanded thechurch at Corinth to put away anincestuous member from its midst (ICor. 5:13), and the same apostle en­joined Titus to reject a man that is aheretic, after the first and second ad­monition (Titus 3:10). How unpleas­ant, how onerous a task! Is it altogethercertain that the member who is chargedwith an offense is guilty? If that iscertain, who can determine the precisedegree of his guilt? And who possessesthe wisdom to choose the most just andappropriate mode of censure? Some­times the elders must resort to ex­communication. Then they not onlyexclude the person concerned from theparticular church or congregation, orfor that matter from the denomination,but they solemnly declare that theycan no longer regard him as a childof God. Seldom, if ever, can eldersresort to such action without someslight misgiving, unless indeed theymistakenly believe in an infalliblechurch. And every time they do takesuch action they do it with bleedinghearts.

It might be thought that the eldersare kept so busy with spiritual mattersthat they have neither time nor energyleft for the material interests of thechurch. For that reason a number ofchurches have trustees to attend to thechurch's finances. Perhaps it is forthe same reason that many churcheshave charged their deacons, not onlywith caring for the poor, but also withmanaging all the other financial aspectsof the church's work. The latter is amistake, and it may never be forgottenthat the trustees are responsible to thesession, consisting of the elders, for allthey do. It is simply impossible tosever from each other the spiritual andthe material affairs of the church. Thefinances of the church must alwaysbe managed in business-like fashion, tobe sure, but also in a spiritual way andto a spiritual end. And so this mattertoo falls under the overseeing of thechurch with which Scripture chargesthe elders.

Well may any ruling elder exclaim:"Who is sufficient for these things?"(2 Cor. 2:16).

Its Exacting RequisitesAs one might expect, the qualifi­

cations for the office of the ruling elder

are commensurate with the duties ofthis office. If its duties are trulymomentous, its requisites must be trulyexacting. That this is actually the casewill appear as a few of these requisitesare named.

It is a great American fallacy thata man who is successful in businessor a profession is qualified for prettynearly any position of responsibility.That accounts for it that so manychurches have a decided preference formen of that type for the eldership.Seldom is a relatively poor day-laborerelected to this office. And yet he maypossess the qualifications for this officein a higher degree than the presidentof a bank or a college.

A prime requisite for the office ofruling elder, as well as for that ofteaching elder, is godliness. Thatshould go without saying but it issometimes forgotten. In choosing elderschurch members often have more re­gard to popularity than to godliness.In his first letter to Timothy, and alsoin his letter to Titus, the apostle Paulenumerated several requisites for thisoffice, and most of them fall underthe head of godliness. He said, "Abishop then must be blameless. thehusband of one wife, vigilant, sober,of good behavior, given to hospi­tality . . ., not given to wine, nostriker, not greedy of filthy lucre, butpatient, not a brawler, not covetous"(I Tim. 3:2,3). Incidentally, the word"striker" denotes the passionate manwho is inclined to come to blows atonce over anything. It may also beremarked that there is some differenceof opinion as to the meaning of theexpression "the husband of one wife."There are those who think that in theapostolic church polygamy was in someinstances and for the time being toler­ated, although never approved of, inrecent converts from paganism. If thatwas the case, Paul says significantlythat to have a polygamist serve as elderin the church is entirely out of thequestion even under the most unusualcircumstances.

A Christian virtue on which Scrip­ture puts special emphasis as a requisitefor the office of elder is humility. Thisspecial emphasis is not difficult toaccount for. Just because the office isso exalted and honorable, only thehumble man is fit to hold it. Anyother man, if chosen to this high office,will almost certainly be overcome bypride. For that reason Paul admon-

ished Timothy that no "novice" shouldbe made an elder, "lest being lifted upwith pride he fall into the condem­nation of the devil" (I Tim. 3:6).For the same reason Peter admonishedthe elders in the churches for whichhis first epistle was intended to dotheir work not "as being lords overGod's heritage" (I Pet. 5:3). Thereis an old saying that in the churchthere are two kinds of elders: thosewho rule, namely the ruling elders, andthose who are ruled, the ministers. Itis intended as a jest, but in someinstances it is sad reality. In manysessions there is a so-called leadingelder, Almost invariably he is a seri­ous detriment to the church.

That every teaching elder should bea theologian is a matter of course, butthat every ruling elder should be atheologian is just as true. How cana ruling elder do his duty in checkingup on the soundness of the minister'sp.eaching unless he is himself wellversed in theology? How will he be"able by sound doctrine both to exhortand to convince the gainsayers" (Tit.1:9) unless he knows his Bible? Everyruling elder should be a diligent stu­dent of the Word of God, have andfrequently use a reliable commentaryon Holy Scripture, Calvin's for ex­ample, possess an intimate acquaintancewith the doctrinal standards of hischurch, and own and often consultsome sound book setting forth thesalient points of Christian theology.How many elders meet that require­ment? Rather, how few!

It was for good reason that Jamessaid: "If any of you lack wisdom, lethim ask of God, that giveth to all menliberally and upbraideth not; and itshall be given him" (las. 1:5). Forwisdom is exceedingly rare. Not onlyis it better than rubies but also farmore scarce. Yet it is indispensable forthe ruling elder. It presupposes knowl­edge but it is much more than knowl­edge. It is the ability to make theproper use of knowledge, to employthe best means to the best end. Itis sanctified common sense which is agift of God and far from common.Because it grows through experience,older men usually possess it in greatermeasure than the young, and that isone reason why Scripture ordinarilycommits the rule of the church to itsolder members. One way in which itmanifests itself is in good judgment in

(See "Elder" page 179)

l

172 THE PRESBYTERIAN GUARDIAN

MISSIONSBy MRS. RICHARD B. GAFFIN

September

Bible StudyGOD-THE SOURCE OF MISSIONS"THE missionary enterprise is no

human conception or undertak.ing, no modern scheme or invention,no mere philanthropy even of the finestkind. It did not originate in the brainor heart of any man." Not even inthe heart of that great missionary ofall time, Paul. In II Cor. 5:20 Paulsays, "Now then we are ambassadorsfor Christ as though God did beseechyou by us." It is God, Himself whois the source of the missionary enter­prise. God planned it. Eph. 1 :4; IIThess. 2:13; Rev. 13:8. And theaccomplishment of it is the supremeevent toward which the whole creationmoves. "God be merciful unto us andbless us. That Thy way may be knownupon earth, Thy saving health amongall nations." Psalm 67:1, 2.

The Scriptures not only tell us thatthe missionary enterprise originated inthe councils of God but they tell uswhy. "For God so loved the world,that He gave His only begotten Sonthat whosover believeth on Him shouldnot perish but have everlasting life."In. 3:16; I In. 4:9,10; Rom. 5:8; 8:32."a the love that drew salvation's plan.a the grace that brought it down toman."

Jesus, the Christ, was the expressionof God's great love for this lost world.Christ was God's great missionary.Nay, more, He came Himself in theperson of His Son. "God was inChrist reconciling the world unto Him­self." II Cor. 5:19; Luke 19:10; In.3:17; 1:29; I In. 2:2. One writer hasaptly set forth the missionary characterof the Bible by describing it as God'ssearch for man. "This divine searchof the Creator for his child begins withthe first chapter of Genesis, and doesnot end till the closing words of Revela­tion. God, Himself is thus seen as thefirst and greatest missionary, and thewhole Bible as the revelation of hissuccessive outreaches into the soul of

"man.The above facts concerning the mis­

sionary enterprise have the most pro­found meaning for all. To the unsaved

they say, "God is seeking you!" Thevoice that speaks forth God's Wordfrom the pulpit, in the Sunday Schoolclass, over the microphone or from theprinted page is no idle tale of a "sillynarrow minded Christian." It is Godbeseeching you by human instrumentto come to Him. If you do not re­spond to His loving call His wrathabides upon you through an everlastingeternity. And, "it is a fearful thing tofall into the hands of an angry God."To those of you who bring the mission­ary message it says, "You are speakingin Christ's stead." "We pray you inChrist's stead, be ye reconciled to God."We are ambassadors for Christ. Whenwe speak it should be as though Goddid beseech by us. What humilityshould adorn us! What earnestnessshould attend our effort! How weshould pray that the love of God andthe communion of the Holy Spiritabide with us. How wonderfully Godwould carry out His missionary enter­prise in your church if the minister,the elders, deacons, Sunday schoolteachers and missionary people wereinstant in season and out. Our effortsare so meager, so wavering. I fear wehave not begun to perceive the pro­fundity of the missionary enterprise.May God help us!

(This study may be enlarged throughuse of Bible commentaries and THE

BIBLE BASIS OF MISSIONS, Glover, pages13-55)·

Planning the Program

OCT OBER is the month in whichwe celebrate Reformation Day.

Although the movement was spreadover many years, hundreds of them,and was effected through the work ofhundreds of men we celebrate it onOctober 31. For on that day Lutheraffixed his celebrated "Ninety FiveTheses" to the gates of the church ofWittenburg. These Theses gave a newimpetus to the movement that fannedthe smouldering fires for reform intoa blaze that lighted all Europe.

Never in our lives have we ap­proached a Reformation Day when theneed for uplifting the Reformation

blaze was as great as today. PaulBlanshard in his book, American Free­dom and Catholic Power, publishedthis year, supports the truth of thisstatement. He says, "In a very realsense the Catholic Church is the clergy.... The Pope and the Pope only hasthe final right of approval, . . . ThePope in fact is the commander-in-chiefof the Catholic army, and more than amillion clerical soldiers throughout theworld-priests, nuns, and brothers­follow him with unquestioning obedi.ence. ... . What would happen toAmerica if our alleged twenty sixmillion Catholics grew to be a majorityin the population and followed thedirection of the priests? " Read theanswer given by the Catholic hierarchyin chapter 12, "The Catholic Plan forAmerica."

Blanchard quotes Ignatius Loyola,"Therefore, if anything shall appearwhite to our eyes which the church hasdefined as black, we likewise mustdeclare it to be black." It's (the Catho­lic church's) rigidity of doctrine anddiscipline is as unmistakable today asit was when the Reformation split theChristian world in the sixteenth cen­tury." Knowing this and knowingthat we possess the light that canpenetrate Catholic darkness as it didin Luther's day we are planningthe program: Reaching our CatholicNeighbors.

The first step is to collect materialthat will acquaint your members withthe situation of their Catholic neigh­bors. Below is a list with a good dealof variety. Weeks before your meetingtry to get every member of your societyto take something to read. This willbe a discussion meeting but let's haveit based upon fact. If you may buyor borrow the books suggested assignchapters. Make an all-out effort toget everyone to read something. Tryto order or buy sufficient copies of TheConverted Catholic Magazine thatevery member may have one, also TheTrek from Rome. Advertise your meet­ing at least two weeks ahead. Enclosewith a neat announcement of the topicand meeting a copy of the tract,

1949 THE PRESBYTERIAN GUARDIAN 173

"Which will you believe?" (GoodNews Pub. Co., 322 W. Washington,Chicago 6.) Mail one to everybody.If they are not able to attend, the tractwill give them something to thinkabout, and it pays to advertise.

Open your meeting in a worshipfulmanner so as to prepare hearts for theBible Study which may replace devo­tions. The Bible Study is very import.ant. The Word is above all the mostpowerful instrument for arousing mento action. The response to the ques­tion, Why must we reach our Catholicneighbors?, will center around twomain facts. First, that the truth isobscured for them by dogma; andsecondly, the hierarchy are an enemyto freedom to teach the truth. Thesecond question is, How may we reachthem? Several illustrations are givenon this page. There may be a con­verted priest or person in your vicinitywho would be able to help in answer­ing this. Invite them to the meeting.Personal interest, bringing them underthe influence of the Word, and patientpersistence are factors to take intoaccount.

Suggested ProgramHymnBible Study-God, the source of missionsNews of Mission FieldsPrayer CircleTopic-Reaching our Catholic neighborsLeader's Introductory RemarksDiscussion:

a. Why must we reach our Catholicneighbors?

b. How may we reach our Catholicneighbors?

HymnDismissal of GuestsBusiness Meeting

Some Reading MaterialThe Converted Catholic Magazine, published

by Christ's Mission, 160 Fifth Avenue,New York. Also, The Trek from Rome,by the same publisher.

American Freedom and Catholic Power, byPaul Blanshard.

Truth vs. Dogma, by J. C. Macauley.The Monk Who Lived Again, by B. H.

Pearson.Religious Liberty in Latin America, by G. P.

Howard.

A Word to the Wise"He that winneth souls is wise."

Provo II :30

ABOUT six months ago a group ofstudents was gathered in a dor­

mitory room discussing with our

Shanghai missionary the doctrines ofChristianity. A friend of one of thefellows dropped in. He listened at.tentively for sometime. Finally hedisclosed the fact that he had beenborn and reared a Catholic. And thatfrequently he had questions such aswere being answered here. On severaloccasions he had gone to his priestwith them to be told, "You mustaccept these things without questionas they are the teaching of the church."The young man was very happy to hearthe explanation of such questions andto know that he might read them atwill in the Bible. When the way ofsalvation was explained and he wasinvited to accept Christ he did so. Hebecame a faithful attendant at Bibleclass and church.

About the same time two ladiesmoved into the same apartment in anAmerican city. The one, a Christian,had no machine for doing her wash.The other, a young Catholic, discoveredthis and though they were barely ac­quainted offered the use of her ma­chine. The first day they washed theconversation was about their commoninterests, including their husbands, whowere far from home. The Catholiclady lamented the fact that her hus­band did not come home as frequentlyas he might. She commented upon thepeace of mind that Mrs. Christian hadabout her husband though he hadbeen away from home a long while,and in a very dangerous place. ThenMrs. Christian said, "When we are inGod's will and called according to hispurpose we know that only that whichis for our good can happen."

A few days later the way of salvationwas presented for Mrs. Catholic. Shesaid that she believed it but she justdid nor have peace. She wanted Godto straighten out things with her hus­band, but He did not and so shedid not feel she was a child of God.They agreed to pray about this andMrs. Christian told her that she shouldread the Bible and see what wonderfulthings God promises to those whotrust Him in the way He has planned."I have no Bible," she said, "but Ihave often thought that I should haveone. Where can I buy one?" Thematter was discussed and a very goodBible was ordered. In the meantimeMrs. Catholic was loaned a Bible, andinstructed in its use".

From time to time Mrs. Christianwould take her mending and spend the

evening in Mrs. Catholic's apartment.They would end their time togetherby reading a chapter in John andpraying. Mrs. Catholic thought it waswonderful to be able to talk to God.When her Bible arrived she had to bewarned against reading the prayers init more than the Word, itself. Soonshe was reading ahead to see wharcame next and asking questions thatMrs. Christian had to seek aid fromher pastor to answer. On several occa­sions the lessons lasted past midnight.Mrs. Catholic began to accompany herfriend to Sunday School and church.She commented upon the fact that somany people did not come to churchthat were at Sunday School. She lovedthe singing.

For three Sundays she walked boldlyto the church with her Bible in handwith no apparent fear of her Catholicfriends. The fourth Sunday she did notappear. Her husband had come homeand he did not approve. When Mrs.Christian called for the next lesson inJohn Mr. Catholic was fairly nice butwent out very abruptly. The prettyyoung wife was disturbed but indi­cated that she did not mean to giveup what she had gained in Spiritualthings but to go on. However, timeafter time the lesson was interferedwith. When Mrs. Christian would gofor it he was always at home and manytimes with friends. They would drinkbeer. Mrs. Christian refused the beerbut entered into the conversations.Before too long Mr. Catholic wasgreeting her on the street and in thegrocery.

Mrs. Christian was aware of thegenuine desire of the young mother tohave domestic tranquility so she didnot press the matter of church attend­ance, but being sure that it was neces­sary for Mrs Catholic to be under theinfluence of the Word she invited herto attend Bible School to see theteacher present the lesson to the smallchildren. This had a double blessing.She was learning to teach her ownchild and also becoming well ac,quainted with the truth as she watchedit illustrated on the flannelgraph. Shelearned the memory verses assignedand how to find passages in her Bible.

Vacation activities prevented theladies from seeing one another for amonth. During this time Mrs. Chris­tian was regular in prayer and severalfriends joined in prayer with her forMrs. Catholic. One morning Mrs. Cath-

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174 THE PRESBYTERIAN GUARDIAN September

Christian School EssentialAs Kingdom Builder

olic called on Mrs. Christian. It wasthe first time that she had made a callupon her own courage. She said thatshe had missed Mrs. Christian's calls.She also volunteered to say that everytime she had passed the door of abuilding in the community where thegospel was being preached she hadinvited her husband to come in buthe always refused. However, she hadsecured his consent to allow her toattend church on Sunday morningwhen her mother was free to take careof the baby. When Mrs. Christiandiscovered that Mr. Catholic was leav­ing town for a week she suggestedthat Mrs. Catholic go along with herto the evangelistic services and shegladly accepted.

Here are two widely differing casesbut in both the Word was the instru­ment that brought conviction. In thecase of Mrs. Catholic it was very notice­able that courage and poise in the prob­lem of her husband's attitude was

National Union Dedicated toA.ggressive Policy in Education

"The Christian School is the verybest Kingdom builder we have," de­clared the Rev. Edward Heerema, in astatement to the GUARDIAN telling ofhis recent acceptance of a position withthe National Union of ChristianSchools. The full statement follows:

"The Christian School is the verybest Kingdom builder we have. Thatmay sound like an extravagant state­ment. I believe, however, that it isprecisely true. My reasons for makingthat statement are :-one, the trainingand experiences of childhood are theforces that mold our personalities andcharacters; two, the Christian school,as the National Union believes in andpropagates it, is an extension of theChristian home. It thus carries on thedevelopment of the essential unit ofdivinely ordered covenant life, thehome in its essential spiritual com­ponents; three, the Christian school isutterly necessary to mold the develop­ing personalities of our children in theall-important conviction that the Chris­tian faith encompasses all of life-

gained only after she began to studyfor herself. One of the first questionsthat Mrs. Catholic had asked was ifshe would go to purgatory for a certainthing that the church taught was asin. Mrs. Christian avoided this ques­tion, purposely, and replied that weshould look into the Bible about thismatter. "For the Bible is God's mes­sage for us. It tells us everythingthat we need to know for this life aswell as the next." Although Mrs. Cath­olic was critical of. her church and theparochial school she was graduatedfrom, her teacher never entered into adiscussion of these things unless theyappeared on the Scripture before them.Then she emphasized the fact thatGod's Word says this. Although Mrs.Christian's experiences in soul winningare not many she feels that until thecarnal mind has been washed in theblood it cannot perceive the truth. Thething that brings the best results iscontact with the Word of God.

that the Kingdom of God claims everyproper interest and concern of menunto the end that God may be glorified.

"My experience of the past period ofalmost ten years in dealing intimatelywith the inner being of men andwomen has enhanced for me the forceof the psychological fact that it is theconditioning of experiences in youngeryears that determines so largely whata personality will be throughout life.H God is to be the all.in-all of humanlife, if He is to be the soul's first lovein every aspect' of experience, and there­fore also the soul's abiding- fortress,and if the Kingdom of God in itssweeping command of all of life isto be man's persistent objective, thenGod and His Kingdom must becomethat through the God-centered nurtureof younger years.

"The Christian home alone cannotaccomplish this. Certainly the Christianhome cannot accomplish this in collabo­ration with the modern public school.This is true because the public school,even at its best, leads the growing ab-

sorbent personality of the child into themany fascinating areas of life and inter­est in such a way as to leave the inevit­able impression either that God doesnot exist or that He is not very impor­tant. A virile God-centered Christianitycannot be fostered when there is sucha sharp contradiction at the very vitalcenter of the nurturing process.

"The National Union of ChristianSchools is dedicated to an aggressive,forward looking program of advancingthe cause of Christian education bothintensively and extensively. The edu­cation in the schools existing todaymust ever be improved, must becomemore positively and effectively Chris­tian. To this end a program of pub­lishing truly Christian textbooks hasbeen launched. This ambitious under­taking is to be carried on throughgrants from the recently establishedChristian School Educational Founda­tion. Also, the National Union wishesto spread these convictions regardingthe Christian school to other Christiangroups where tlre blessings of such aschool have not been recognized andexperienced.

"This aggressive program the Na­tional Union wishes to carry out infaithfulness to those basic doctrinal con­ceptions which bred the Christianschool in the first place, the doctrines ofcovenant-conscious Calvinism. The Na­tional Union has no desire, I am sure,to weaken or broaden its doctrinal

The Rev. Edward Heerema

1949 THE PRESBYTERIAN GUARDIAN 175

be made of two or three others in thegeneral area of London. A most inter­esting weekend was spent at the Rose­hill Conference Centre near Reading,where I took part in a "Leaders' Con­ference" of the Crusaders' Union, withabout ISO men in attendance from allparts of Britain. This organization,now slightly more than forty years old,links together hundreds of Bible classesfor schoolboys throughout the country.A pleasing by-product of the Confer­ence was that its host, Mr. F. D. Bacon,a retired business man whose hobby isEnglish hymnody, took us for a tourof places of religious interest in Lon­don. In an area dreadfully devastedby German bombs some of these his­torical scenes remain wonderfully un­touched. Of special interest is thenon-conformist cemetery, BunhillFields, which became the refuge forthe remains of John Bunyan, IsaacWatts, Daniel DaFoe and others. Nearby is the Wesley Chapel and home andgrave. And not too far away theruins of the church where Milton wasburied. But to return to my reportof more formal appointments, I mayrecall visits to the Oak Hill TheologicalCollege, an evangelical Anglican insti­tution in a suburb of London some­what like the Bristol B. C. M. College,and to the All Nations Bible College,an interdenominational training schoolfor missionaries located at Taplow inBerkshire.

Thus nearly two weeks passed swiftlyby, and it was time to go to Cam­bridge. The final week in England,July 8-15, like my first, in Oxford,proved one of the most fascinating andbusiest of all. The question oftenasked, Oxford or Cambridge? - onwhich most Englishmen appear to bequite partisan - I will continue tododge by saying that they mutuallyexcel one another. Oxford has aboutas many colleges as Cambridge, andthey are perhaps on the whole archi­tecturally superior to those in Cam­bridge. But Cambridge alone hasKing's Chapel! And in spite of itssize Oxford tends to lose itself some­what in the busy rush of a modern city,whereas Cambridge University is Cam­bridge, and the location of severalcolleges along the Cam is quite match­less. The historical significance ofCambridge, in the life of nation andchurch, is also comparable to that ofOxford. From the point of view ofthe history of evangelicalism it is surely

by taking us to Bath and Wells, wherethe architectural charm of town, Abbeyand Cathedral quite captivated us.

My principal reason for returning toEngland was a series of engagementsin Cambridge, but brief mention may

This is the final letter in the seriesof accounts of Professor Stone.house's travels in Europe, thoughwe hope to have from him a reporton the meetings of the ReformedEcumenical Synod, held the week ofAugust 8.

We wish to express our apprecia­tion to Dr. Stonehouse for hiskindness in writing these letters, andhelping us, in an informal way, tobecome acquainted with Christianfriends and activities in distantplaces.

friends to give thought in prayer to theChristian Sanatorium where we havespent almost ten fruitful years, to theChristian school movement in thiscountry, and to the needs of yourhumble servant as he addresses himselfto his new duties."

Mr. Heerema is a graduate of Cal­vin College and Westminster Theolog­ical Seminary. He has also takengraduate work at the University ofPennsylvania and at Columbia Univer­sity. He assumes his position with theNational Union on October I.

AmsterdamAugust 8, 1949.

Since the Reformed EcumenicalSynod is to occupy a large part of myattention during the next ten days ormore, leaving only a few days beforewe are scheduled to sail for home, itappears that I shall have to takemeasures at once if I am to meet theSeptember dead-line. The Synod, whereI am to serve as a delegate of theOrthodox Presbyterian Church, formsa chapter of its own, and you willperhaps be interested in a report con­cerning it later on. At any rate withthis letter I plan to conclude my littleseries of stories of my travels as arepresentative of Westminster.

England was again the scene ofactivity for most of this period, and itwas delghtful to return so soon again,now with Mrs. Stonehouse, to solidifyfriendships established on the earliervisit as well as to make many newones. London, Oxford and Cambridgewere revisited, and had lost none oftheir fascination. But there were alsosome new stops, including Reading,Stratford, Malvern, Bristol, Bath andWells. Though this is not a travelogue,I cannot fail to express my delight atall that we were able to see of thebeauties of England. In Malvern wewere the guests of Mr. E. K. Simpson,a charming gentleman and scholar,who is contributing an exposition ofEphesians to the International Com­mentary. We shall never forget thehours spent in his company, whetherin his home or as we rode about andthrough the rugged Malvern hills.In Bristol we had the opportunity of

A Concluding Visit to CamhridgeBy NED B. STONEHOUSE

jvisiting the British Churchmen's Mis­sionary Society College, a trainingschool for clergymen established by asignificant missionary and reform move­ment which dates back a little morethan twenty-five years. This move­ment reminds one of similar action inthe States in the twenties and thirties,largely under the leadership of Dr.Machen. One profound difference isthat the Church of England is evi­dently more tolerant of a definite evan­gelical program within the Churchthan the Presbyterian Church in theU.S.A. Our hosts, the Rev. and Mrs.P. E. Hughes (Mr. Hughes, a memberof the Bristol faculty, was an associatein the Oxford Course referred to inmy first letter) gave us a happy timeand particularly put us in their debt

basis. That was made clear once moreat its recent convention held in Denver.

"It is this complex of convictionsand facts that has prompted me to jointhis great Kingdom-building movement,One senses a certain inadequacy as hefaces so momentous a challenge, andhe realizes with new vividness that todo effective work for God and HisKingdom we wait upon His sustaininggrace. As Mrs. Heerema and I withour four children move to GrandRapids to carryon this new work, wewould ask our GUARDIAN-reading

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176 THE PRESBYTERIAN GU ARDIAN September

Keil and Delitzsch RepobUshedValuable Commentary Again Available

By EDWARD J. YOUNG

quite superior: one needs only to recallthe Cambridge Reformers and the laterEvangelical revival to bear out thispoint. And it is no accident that theLV F., as I observed in my first letter,owes its beginnings largely to develop­ments in Cambridge.

How appropriate, therefore, that theLV.F., through its Tyndale Fellowshipfor Biblical Research, should haveestablished a residential library andresearch centre in Cambridge, knownas Tyndale House. This charminghouse of three stories, with an attractivegarden, is conveniently located near theUniversity Library and the Colleges.A splendid research Library has beenestablished and residential facilities areavailable to those who wish to engagein research. Its facilities are quitesuitable for conferences, and it was areal pleasure to reside there for theweek, in company with several whocame up for the conferences. I had asmall part in a "Reading Party forPotential" Old Testament Scholars,"held between the 8th and r rth, underthe chairmanship of Mr. Donald Wise­man, Assistant Keeper of Assyrian andBabylonian Antiquities at the BritishMuseum. The Summer School, underMr. F. F. Bruce's leadership, followedfrom the r t th to the 16th, the maintopic being "The Canon of Scripture."Concurrently there was a woman'stheological conference at nearby Newn­ham College, where I addressed abouttwenty women theological students oncertain aspects of New Testamentstudy. One of the most useful featuresof these conferences was the periodsgiven to discussion of problems relatedmore or less closely to the topicstreated in the lectures.

It was in the course of this weekthat the annual Tyndale lectures weredelivered, the eighth in the series oflectures on Old and New Testamenttopics. The Old Testament Lecturefor this year was given by Dr. W. J.Martin .of Liverpool, whose theme was"Stylistic Interpretation of Sources."Dr. Martin has recently attracted con­siderable attention in Britain by hisforthright criticism of the methods andconclusions of certain Old Testamentscholars. My own lecture was on "TheAreopagus Address," and like that ofDr. Martin was delivered in a hall ofthe Divinity School of the University.Since it was the invitation to deliverthis single lecture which initiated myentire tour, it naturally had more than

incidental place in my own thoughts.It will be published in the near futureby Tyndale Press, the publishing armof the LV.F., which has made aremarkable record for itself in a fewyears of activity as supplier of evan­gelical literature to the student world.

One feature of my stay in Cambridgeremains to be mentioned. On Sundayevening, July 10, I preached the weeklyC.LC.C.U. sermon. This sermon isusually delivered in Holy Trinitychurch, and the thought of occupyingthe pulpit where Charles Simeon hadreached hundreds of students madespecial appeal. I was" somewhat dis­appointed, therefore, that this churchbecame unavailable for a few weeks,and that the service had to be trans­ferred to another church. However,there was considerable compensation inthe fact that it was held in the "RoundChurch," really the Church of the HolySepulchre, but popularly called theRound Church because of its circularnave. It is one of four such churchesin England, and dates from aboutII30' The weekly C.LC.C.U. sermonis the sermon which members of theChristian Union especially urge theirfellow students to attend, and thoughit was the "Long Vac" term, whenmost students were taking summerholidays, there was a good attendance.

We left England for Holland withthe night boat of July IS, several hoursbefore the Summer School formallyclosed, because of an engagement toparticipate in a Student Conference inHolland beginning on the rSth, Thisfour-day conference of the Chr. Geref.Studentenbond, an organization ofUniversity students of the Chr. Geref.denomination, was held in a somewhatisolated spot, at a place called Kerk

FIVE years ago, on a visit to theWest Coast, it was my privilege

to spend two evenings in the home ofone of the loveliest Christian familiesthat I have ever met. This familybelonged to the Orthodox PresbyterianChurch, and thev were loyal membersof the church. More than that, theywere true students of the Bible. On

Avezaath, which is located in theBetuwe, the fruitbelt of Holland.About forty students took part. Asolid program of papers and discussionshad been arranged. A whole day, forexample, was devoted to the discussionof the relation of Church and State,with two speakers representing twohistorically different positions whichfind expression in different politicalparties, introducing the subject. Otherpapers took up such subjects as "Chris­tian Science" (Not Mary Baker Eddy'sbrand, but science from the Christianpoint of view), "Reformed Ecumen­icity," "The Significance of the Canonsof Dort for Ecclesiastical and PersonalLife," and "Religious Life in America."The last named subject was my own.I had also been asked to lead morningdevotions. At this conference I had beeninvited to speak in English, whichI mention as a credit to the languagefacility of Dutch students. There wasalso present at the Conference an Ox­ford member of the I.V.F. who gavean informing and inspiring talk onthe far-flung program of that organi­zation. It was most encouraging toobserve the earnest forward-lookingattitude of this student organization,for there was manifest a solid commit­ment to the Faith of the Fathers inunion with a progressive outlook uponthe issues of the day. The spiritedsinging of the Dutch Psalms in a newtranslation and with rhythmic. tuneswas another aspect of the conferencethat was heartily enjoyed. And thuswas brought to a happy conclusionmany weeks of contacts with studentsin Britain and Holland. I am mostthankful for the privilege.

Sincerely yours,NED B. STONEHOUSE.

the day of my departure the lady ofthe house asked me to tell her some­thing about the book of Ezekiel andalso to recommend to her a goodcommentary on that book. I told herthat there was one good commentarythat I should like to obtain for her.

That was five years ago. In themeantime I have not found a copy of

1949 THE PRESBYTERIAN GUARDIAN 177

Orthodox PresbyterianChurch News

the commentary in question, for thework to which I had reference is thecommentary of C. F. Keil, and hisworks have long been out of printand very difficult to obtain. It looksnow, however, as though I shall be ableto fulfill my promise, for the works ofKeil and his companion writer, Del­itzsch, are being reprinted.

Keil and Dehtzsch were two devoitChristian men who lived in Germanyduring the last century. During theirlife time they saw that the love of manywas growing cold through the presenceof a rationalistic attitude toward theBible. And since they were devoutChristian men, they determined to dosomething about it. They spent yearsin the production of a series of com­mentaries on the Old Testament, which,in the present writer's opinion, is secondto none.

"Well and good," you may say."Such commentaries ought to be in theminister's study. That goes withoutsaying. But I am not a minister. Ido not know a word of Greek andHebrew, so why should I be inter­ested in these commentaries." Theanswer to that question is that it is notnecessary to know Greek and Hebrewto benefit from a study of these works.

Of course, Keil and Delitzsch dodiscuss the Hebrew text. And theirdiscussion should never be neglectedby any minister who wishes to preachthe Word of God. But there are alsoexcellent remarks which set forth thethought of the Biblical passage, whichcan be grasped by any intelligent andeducated person. For example, theBiblical books are analyzed in such amanner as to exhibit their inner struc­ture and harmony. This is a featurewhich makes these works invaluablefor anyone who wishes to do some real·Bible study.

Keil and Delitzsch have long beenout of print. And it has been extremelydifficult to obtain copies of the works.Now,however, comes the most wel­come news that these books are beingreprinted. The reprints are a delightto the eye. They are beautifully andsturdily bound, and the printing isclear and easily legible. They are trulyattractive volumes.

So far there have appeared the threevolumes of Keil on the Pentateuch,and his two volumes on the MinorProphets. The three volumes of Del­itzsch on the Psalms and his twovolumes on Isaiah have also been pub-

lished. These are books which canbe read over and over again. Here isthe very best that the Germany of lastcentury had to offer in the expositionof God's Holy Word. These volumesare being reprinted by the Wm. B.Eerdmans Co., of Grand Rapids,Michigan.

Not only do these books containvaluable expositions of the Bible butthey also contain cogent answers to

West Collingswood, N. J.: Twoformer members of Immanuel Church,both now ministers, were among thepulpit supplies of the church duringthe pastor's absence at General Assem­bly. They are the Rev. Peter Pascoe,now of Queens Village United Presby­terian Church on Long Island, andChaplain John H. Betzold, currentlystationed at Fort Knox, Ky.

Fair Lawn, N. J.: Bids for the pro­posed building of Grace Chapel wereopened on August 4. None camewithin the $20,000 limit, however, andthe building committee is conferringwith the architect on modification ofthe plans so that the expense can bekept under that figure. The bonddrive to obtain funds for the buildinghas been successful, owing to the helpof local Christian Reformed friends,as well as members of The OrthodoxPresbyterian Church in other localities.It is hoped that construction work canbegin by early October at the latest.

Portland, Me.: The former pastorof Second Parish church, the Rev.Arthur O. Olsen, now of Volga, S. D.,was guest preacher at the church onAugust 14. He and his family spentpart of their vacation in the Portlandarea. On August 16 the congregationgave a reception for the Olson family.

Fort Lauderdale, Fla.: A friend ofthe Fort Lauderdale church, who livesin Chicago, has presented the churchwith three stained glass windows,which have been installed back of thepulpit. The church bell has been hung,and now peals forth the call to worship.

Pittsburgh, Pa.s Members of Cove­nant Church have been encouraged toset aside 50 cents a week, so they willbe able to contribute to the special No-

the attacks which have been madeupon the Bible. If one would cometruly to know the meaning of theBiblical Books of the Old Covenant,he cannot find a better guide than thesesplendid volumes. We hope that thebooks will have a wide sale and thatthey will be used of God in helpingthe men and women of our time toattain a more accurate understandingof the Old Testament.

vember offering at the suggested rateof $15. per communicant member.Attendance at both morning and eve­ning services of the congregation hasbeen the best in the church's history.

Bend, Oregon: Since the first Sun­day in July Westminster Church hasbeen on the air with a broadcast of thelast half of its evening service, from8 to 8:30 p.m., over local stationKBNB. The pastor's message is in­cluded in the portion of the servicewhich is broadcast. . . . The annualSuttle Lake Conference was heldAugust 5-12. Classes were taught bythe Rev. and Mrs. Henry Coray ofLong Beach, Calif., and by the Rev.Lawrence R. Eyres of Portland, Ore­gon. Other guests at the conferenceincluded the Rev. Russell Piper andthe Rev. Glenn Coie with their fam­ilies. Mr. Coie, former pastor of West­minster church, was guest preacher atthe church August 7. Mr. David Coewas recently ordained an elder, and Mr.Fred Westlake a deacon, of West­minster.

Los Angeles, Calif.: At a meetingof California Presbytery, held duringthe sessions of the Assembly, a callfrom Grace Church to the Rev. DavidCalderwood was approved, and ac­cepted by him. Plans were made forhis installation in that church in Sep­tember.

Los Angeles, Calif.: Mr. Wayne J.Stevenson has been elected clerk ofsession of the Westminster church.

National City, Calif.: The congre­gation has voted to extend a call tothe Rev. Edwards E. Elliott of Balti­more to become its pastor. Mr. Elliottis pastor of St. Andrews church.

178 THE PRESBYTERIAN GU ARDIAN September

Christian Education BuUdingfor Middletown Church

Community Church HasThree-Week Bible School

TH E Community Orthodox Presby­terian Church of Center Square,

Pa, has made a real impression on thelocal community through its successin teaching children. A three-weekSummer Bible School had an averageattendance of over 40, and the closingexercises of the school were attendedby a very large audience. New pupilshave been gained for the Sundayschool. In July the first young personfrom the community was received intomembership in the church, after twelveweeks of catechetical instruction bythe pastor. Another family of six hascompleted a period of instruction, witha view to being received into member­ship in the fall. The session has recom­mended that the church contribute$I.II per communicant member permonth to missions, and has set the firstSunday of each month for receiving thecontribution.

Women of the church have beenorganizing a Women's Missionary S:J­ciety, and are now in the process ofwriting a constitution for the organi­zation. During the minister's vacationin August, the pulpit was supplied byWestminster students Meade Deggesand Fred Colby.

Stantons. Gaffinon Way Home

WORD has been received at theForeign Missions office that the

Rev. and Mrs. Charles E. Stantonand family sailed from Massawa onAugust 26. The first leg of theirjourney will take them to Genoa, Italy,where they will have to secure passagethe rest of the way home. Theyshould arrive in this country for theirfurlough before the end of September.They have expressed the hope of beingable to find a residence in the vicinityof Philadelphia, while here.

Though no word has been received,definite arrangements had been madefor Mr. Gaffin to leave Shanghai onSeptember 15. It is understood thatboth the Communists and the Na­tionalists had agreed to allow a singlepassenger vessel to dock at Shanghaifor the purpose of picking up personsleaving that city, provided no one andnothing left the ship at the time. TheNationalists are maintaining a tightblockade of Communist occupiedShanghai.

Wierenga-Stonehouse

MR. JOHN R. WIERENGA, son ofMr. and Mrs. J. H. Wierenga of

Lafayette, Indiana, and Miss MarilynStonehouse, daughter of Professor andMrs. Ned B. Stonehouse of Glenside,Penna., were united in marriage onThursday, September 8, in GrandRapids, Michigan. The ceremony ,wasperformed by the bride's father.

Mr. Wierenga is in his senior yearat Calvin college. The bride has com­pleted two years at the same institution.The couple plan to make their hornein Grand Rapids for the present.

Thomas R. Galbraith

ON Friday, September 2, Mr.Thomas R. Galbraith of Hatboro,

Pennsylvania, died following an illnessof less than two weeks.

ON Sunday afternoon, September4, the new Christian Education

Building of Calvary Orthodox Presby­terian Church, Middletown, Pa. wasofficially dedicated. The building isto be used for the needs of the CalvarySunday school, but is also to be usedby the Christian Day School of Middle­town, which up until now has beenusing facilities in the church.

The Middletown Christian DaySchool was started five years ago withfour grades. For the past three yearsespecially the accommodations avail­able in the Calvary Church buildinghave been inadequate. At the sametime the Calvary Sunday school wasgrowing and the limitation of accom­modations hampered the congregationin its desire to reach additional childrenin the community.

These facts led to the decision tobuild a separate Christian educationbuilding. The building belongs to thechurch, and its primary function is toserve as a Sunday school building.However there was obvious economy inconstructing a building which would besuitable also for the Christian DaySchool, and which could be lent tothe Day School organization for useduring the week. The building thusis used all week long, rather thanonly one day of the week.

Mr. Galbraith was the father of theRev. John P. Galbraith, General Sec­retary of the Home and Foreign Mis­sions Cimmittees of The OrthodoxPresbyterian Church. He himself wasa charter member of the OrthodoxPresbyterian denomination, and at thetime of his death was a member ofMediator Chapel in Philadelphia.

Prior to his retirement in 1941, Mr.Galbraith had been for 44 years ateacher of history and civics in CentralHigh School in Philadelphia. Manyare the citizens of that city who recallhaving studied under him.

Surviving him, in addition to hisson, are his wife and two daughters,Mrs. Dorothy G. Sawyer, D.O., andMiss Lois Galbraith, Ph. D.

Funeral services were held on Sep­tember 6, and burial was in West­minster Cemetery.

When the decision to build wasreached, an architect was employed todraw up plans for an addition to thechurch building itself, but bids forconstruction were so high that anentirely separate building was decidedon as the answer to the problem.Building has been going on for over ayear, but the people are happy that itis finally available. Sunday schoolclasses used it first on September I I.

The Day School started using it onSeptember 6.

The building is of brick construction,with two floors and one large class

. room on each floor. Heating andplumbing facilities and hall arrange­ments are such that two similar roomscan be added on the north side atcomparatively small expense. EightSunday school classes hold their ses­sions in the building, greatly r~lievingcongestion in the church itself andincreasing the church's opportunity tominister through the Sunday school tothe people of the community.

The structure was erected withoutofficial architect or contractor, underthe direction of a building committeeheaded by Elder Lewis Roberts. Ray­mond Risser of Elizabethtown was thebuilder. Actual cost was $18,000 whileskill and labor worth some $2,000 morewere donated. Deacon Ralph Clouser

1949 THE PRESBYTERIAN GU ARDIAN 179

Address . _

The Presbyterian Guardian is a monthly ma9azin,e committed !o statinq, de!endinq, ~ndpr~motinll orthodox Presbyteria~ism as set forth In the Westminster ConfeSSion of Faith.

FORM

vented outsiders from attending, butthere was little local opposition.

The Nationalist blockade of Shang­hai .has been far more successful thanwas expected, with the result thatoutside trade has been cut off, andprices, especially of food, have soared.In general, it appears that, at least inthe Communist dominated areas, thefuture of Christianity will be in thehands of the Chinese natives, ratherthan of missionaries from the outside.

Inter-American Evan­gelical Conference

LEADERS of the InternationalCouncil of Christian Ch urches

were refused admission to the so-calledInter-American Evangelical Conferencewhich met in Buenos Aires the latterpart of July. Although preliminaryinformation about the conference hadbeen sent out, and on the basis ofits statements the I.C.C.C. leaders madeplans to attend and wrote asking foraccreditation, they were rejected. "Itwill be better," they were informed,"that nobody of your council trait tobe present at the Conference. , . .'~

However with their plans made, theRev. Carl McIntire and others wentto Buenos Aires. As promised, theywere refused admission to the Confer­ence, which met behind locked doorsto discuss such subjects as "The Mes­sage and Mission of Protestantism toLatin America," and "FundamentalStrategy of Protestantism in LatinAmerica."

Determined to reach the public withtheir criticisms of the World Counciland the Federal Council, both of which

THE PRESBYTERIAN GUARDIAN1505 Race Street, Philadelphia 2, Pa.Dear sirs:

Enclosed find $2.00 for which please send The Presbyterian Guardianfor one year to:

than for many years. At least fifty andpossibly more students have arrangedto take work there this year. Of theseeight will be taking graduate studieslooking to advanced degrees. Therewill be eight oriental students, fromChina and Korea.

All members of the faculty are ex­pected to be back for the new schoolyear. Th~ Rev. Meredith Kline ofRingoes will again assist in the OldTestament department.

ORDER

Chinese' MissionSituation

I NFORMATION from China indi­cates that the picture for Christian

missions in Communist dominatedareas is anything but good. Thoughat first there seems to have been lessfriction than anticipated, it appearsthat in time the controlling forces pushthe missionaries into the background.There appears to be more difficulty insmall communities, than in largercities.

The specific difficulties seem to takethis form. Authorities are in manyinstances occupying buildings formerlyused by and belonging to missionaries.In some places church services haveactually been forbidden. Religiousfreedom is being interpreted to meanthe right of unbelievers to ridicule andchallenge believers. There is a licensefee of $50. (American) per monthfor private cars, and the price of gaso­line is several dollars a gallon.

On the other hand, various religiousand Bible conferences have been con­ducted on University campuses in theShanghai area. Travel restrictions pre-

supervised this labor and himselfdonated a good part of each week tothe work. Two young men who, withtheir families, have recently united withthe church, helped greatly by doing theelectrical work and installing the floor­ing, Many others contributed theirservices in various ways.

The resultant building is in everyway almost ideal for the purposes forwhich it is intended. The schoolrooms are of ample size, lighting isaccording to approved specifications,cupboards and blackboards are con­venient and adequate, and tile flooringcontributes both to the attractivenessand cleanliness of the rooms.

(Note: We hope to have picturesof this building, and the address deliv­ered at the dedication, for our nextGUARDIAN.)

Elder(C ontinued [rom page 171)

dealing with men. Therefore Scrip­ture, stipulates that an elder must be"one that ruleth well his own house"and that he "must have a good reportof them that are without" (I Tim.3:4,5,7). But that is not all. Some­times church members for lack of goodjudgment do not rule their own houseswell and do not have a good reputationwith outsiders, but at least as often theunderlying cause of these failures is alack of godliness. "The fear of theLord is the beginning of wisdom"(Prov. 9: 10) • Godliness is of theessence of wisdom. Ruling elders mustneeds possess it.

Westminster ExpectsLarge Enrollment

MOST recent irdications .are thatwhen Westminster Seminary be­

gins its academic year on September21, it will have a larger enrollment

180 THE PRESBYTERIAN GUARDIAN September, 1949

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SUNDAY SCHOOLPAPERS

take over the direction of all religiouswork in the country. Some of thepublicity sounds like a sales campaign,with various items being "offered,"such as a "church attendance crusade,"and a special "ten-day cooperative evan­gelistic crusade." Dr. Elmer G. Hom­righausen of Princeton TheologicalSeminary is chairman of the committeeplanning this "evangelistic advance."

•7 WEST 36ST· NEW YORK 18, Noy·

SANATORIUMCHRISTIAN

taxes levied for the public schools, andwere in addition voluntarily providingfunds for their own schools. It wouldappear that the parties responsible forthe administration of the public schoolsystem, rather than the churches, arethe cause of the present situation.

WYCKOFF, N. J.

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THERE WILL BE PERMANENT WORK AND GOOD HOURS

Federal CouncilPlans Evangelism

T H E "most comprehensive andwidely representative Protestant

Crusade ever undertaken to evangelizethe nation" is being planned by themodernist Federal Council for the nextfifteen months. Scheduled to beginOctober 2, it is supposed to reach allthe people of all the communities ofthe nation.

An examination of the announcedprogram suggests that the Councilhopes to get its hand into every localand community church, and in fact to

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Bibles Are Propaganda

A TRUCK-LOAD of Bibles destinedfor Berlin was stopped by the

Soviets near a border check point oneday early in August. The Russianssaid the Scriptures were "propagandamaterial" which needed a special per­mit to enter the Soviet zone.

were backing the Conference, theI.C.C.C. leaders after some difficultymanaged to secure the use of a hall,and through addresses and a discussionperiod were able to inform the 125persons who attended as to the natureand purposes of the Ecumenical Move­ment, or World Council.

Apparently the real aim of the Con­ference was to keep Latin AmericanProtestants, whether Modernist orFundamentalist, together, and to getthem into the World Council. Manyof the South American Conservativesare not particularly informed concern­ing the Modernist conflict. Nor arethey aware that the World Councilviews the ecumenical movement aseventually embracing also the Romishand Eastern Churches. The I.C.C.C.leaders were able to provide informa­tion along both of these lines, andreceived considerable attention in thepress.

The Problem of Educationin Grand Rapids

EARLY in the summer a report wasreleased concerning the problems

faced by the public schools of GrandRapids. A survey of the situation wasmade by a University of Chicago edu­cational authority. The survey de­clared that the public schools wereinadequate to meet the educationalrequirements, and suggested extensivereorganization.

The immediate cause of the situationwas alleged to be that two other sys­tems are active in the city, and takesome 40% of the pupils. Over 7,000pupils attend the Catholic schools, andover 5,000 others attend the schoolsof the Christian Reformed Church. Inconsequence, it was claimed, the in­difference of a large percentage of thepopulation to the needs of the publicschools, even though they paid thetaxes demanded for these schools, re­sulted in the public schools being oflow standards and in financial need.

Y he Christian Century claimed thatit was really a case of churches under­mining the public schools, and that itwould increase and in time destroythe public school system if parochialand Christian schools increased.

In reply it was pointed out that,for Christian schools at least, the edu­cation was under parent control as itshould be, the parents were paying the