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THE SOUTHERNS= 


PRESBYTERIAN 





>>> JOURNAL:::- 


A Presbyterian weekly magazine devoted to the 


statement, defense and propagation of the 
Gospel, the faith which was once for 


all delivered unto the saints : fy 


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a 4acy ‘+ 
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OCTOBER 26, 1955 





“I do believe that Christ's 
condemnation is mine absolu- 
tion, His blood is my cleansing 
by which only I am washed, 
justified, purified, and cleansed 
from all my sins, so that | 
neither receive nor believe in 
any other purgatory but only 
the blood of Christ, by which 
we are all purged and made 


clean forever.” 
BisHop JoHN Hooper 


(Before his burning at the stake 


in Gloucester. Feb. 9th. 1555.) 











VOL. XIV NO. 26 


EDITORIAL 


Saying “NO” To Self—Knowing How To Die— 
Our “Amphibious” Associate Editor— 
Those “Queer” People— God Will 
Hold Us Responsible — 

Thoughts From Psalm 119 


THE PASSING OF THE GIANTS 
By Robert F. Gribble, D.D. 





SABBATH SCHOOL LESSON 
(November 6, 1955) 


> 


YOUNG PEOPLE’S PROGRAM MATERIAL 
(November 6, 1955) 





HELPS TO UNDERSTANDING SCRIPTURE 





CHURCH NEWS 


—_——_»>—_—_ 


WOMEN’S WORK 





BOOK REVIEWS 


$2.50 A YEAR 











Rev. Henry B. Dendy, D.D., Editor 





THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN 


The Journal has no official connection with the Presbyterian Church in the United States 


5 tdci Liban ACOA ahdsad Weaverville, N.C. 
ii ee 8 te Asheville, N.C. 


CONTRIBUTING EDITORS 


Dr. L. Nelson Bell, Associate Editor.......... 


Mr. Chalmers W. Alexander Rev. Samuel McP. Glasgow, D.D. Rev. John R. Richardson, D.D. 

Rev. W. W. Arrowood, D.D. Rev. Robert F. Gribble, D.D. Rev. Wm. Childs Robinson, D.D. 

Rev. C. T. Caldwell, D.D. Rev. Chas. G. McClure, D.D. Rev. George Scotchmer 

Rev. R. Wilbur Cousar, D.D. Dr. J. Park McCallie Rev. Wade C. Smith 

Rev. B. Hoyt Evans Rev. John Reed Miller, D.D. Rev. Cary N. Weisiger, III, D.D. 

Rev. W. G. Foster, D.D. Rev. J. Kenton Parker Rev. W. Twyman Williams, D.D. 
BOARD OF DIRECTORS Mr. Kenneth Keyes 

Mr. Frank M. Akers, Jr. Dr. H. E. Dustin Mr. T. Walker Lewis 

Mr. Richardson Ayres Mr. S. Donald Fortson Mr. T. S. McPheeters 

Dr. L. Nelson Bell, Sec’y-Treas. Rev. Samuel McP. Glasgow, D.D. Rev. T. A. Painter, D.D. 

Mr. William Cannon Mr. W. Gettys Guille Mr. V. G. Philips 

Rev. R. Wilbur Cousar, D.D. Mr. A. C. Hamilton, Jr. Rev. John R. Richardson, D.D. 

Rev. Henry B. Dendy, D.D. Mr. Paul Hastings Mr. Milton Scott 

Mr. Chas. C. Dickinson, Chairman Rev. R. E. Hough, D.D. Mr. A. R. Shaw 

Mr. Hugh Dickson Mr. Horace Hull Mark K. Wilson 


JOURNAL 








fo LETTERS = | 


2 PLLC PL OD DPOB OLOOPDOOOOOOOOD —eee 





PRESBYTERIAN JUNIOR COLLEGE 
Maxton, North Carolina 
October 6, 1955 


Dear Dr. Dendy: 


I have been very much impressed by the 
article “The Reformed Faith and Christian 
Education” by Dr. Crowe, in the current issue 
of the Journal. It is, by all odds, the most pre- 
cise and readable statement of the place of 
Christian Education in the mission of the 
church that I have come across. I intend to 
make it a part of the required parallel reading 
assignment for my Bible courses. I wish that 
all of our college administrations and faculties 
shared the same convictions and understanding 
of the function of Christian Education that Dr. 
Crowe has expressed. 


Please send our library twelve (12) copies of 
the current issue of the Journal containing this 
article. 


Cordially yours in Christ, 
Sheldon F. Koesy, 
Professor of Bible 


Pe EDITORIALS 





alee “NO” to Self 


“And he said unto them all, If any man will 

come after me, let him deny himself, and 

take up his cross daily, and follow me.” 
Luke 9:23 





The last thing the average person wishes to 
say to self is, “No.” And yet, that is what God 


PAGE 2 


requires of His children if they are to follow 
His will in their lives. 


The thing which must be denied varies with 
the individual, for all of us are not tempted in 
the same way. That which is of minor attrac- 
tion to one is a deadly temptation to another. 
But, for each of us there is this requirement of 
discipleship which we would gladly turn from. 


In fact, only too often we say “Yes,” to self 
when God would have had us say, “No.” Paul 
tells us bluntly: “For to be carnally minded 1s 
death; but to be spiritually minded ts life and 
peac * ag 


The facility with which we deny self grows 
as we practice the presence and power of the 
living Christ in our lives. We have this assur- 
ance that He is aware of our temptations and 
has shared in them. We also know that He will 
not permit us to be tempted above that which 
we are able to bear. 


We believe that a Christian may grow in 
this grace; that he may experience a new sense 
of joy as he realizes that God is giving Him 
the power to say “No” to self. But, to experience 
this, self-discipline is necessary. God's saving 
grace and his sustaining power in no way re- 
lieves us of the responsibility to exercise our 
own wills for good. 


Saying “No” to self is not easy but it is 
gloriously rewarding. L.N.B. 


r . i rw . 
Knowing How To Die 
Only those who are prepared to die are really 
prepared to live. This is a matter of perspective 


which is vital beyond words. 


THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN JOURNAL 











— > 


- 








Our “Amphibious” 
Associate Editor 


This Editor has, on several occasions, 
called the attention of our readers to the 
fact that our Associate Editor is a busy 
and successful surgeon. 


The Sunday afternoon he wrote the 
three editorials appearing in this issue he 
also performed a_ difficult emergency 
operation for an obstruction. 


A few days previously we saw the sched- 
ule for the special surgical clinic set up 
for visitors to a meeting of the Tenth 
District Medical Society in Asheville. Of 
the four operating surgeons in this clinic 
one was our own Associate Editor, who 
performed a splenectomy. 

His own explanation? He feels that his 
writing is his most important task—he 
operates to pay expenses. 


H. B. D. 











Imagine a plane from a carrier, flying fai 
out over the ocean. It is because the pilot 
knows there is a place waiting and prepared 
for him to land that makes it possible for him 
to carry out his objective with a sense of things 
being right, and in their place. 


There are those who make light of the Chris 
tian’s hope of Heaven. They deplore any sug- 
gestion that Christianity offers “pie in the sky” 
whatever that may mean. But, it is that sense 
of security, that awareness of an objective and 
a meaning to life, which comes from the as- 
surance of salvation that makes a Christian ef- 
fective in his work. 


There is a good deal of talk about people 
being properly adjusted in personality and in 
outlook. No person is truly adjusted until he 
sees this life in the light of eternity; until he 
learns to evaluate this life and all it can possibly 
offer in the context of those things which never 
fade away. 


The Bible has too many references to the 
future life for us to either ignore or belittle 
them. It may sound resolute and brave to talk 
about forgetting the future that we may do a 
good job here, but no man is going to do his 
best in this world unless in his own relation- 
ship with the Lord Jesus Christ he knows the 


certainty of that eternal redemption which is 
his through faith. 


For many of us death has been near on a 
number of occasions. For all it may be immi- 
nent at any time, and only those who recognize 
this fact and are prepared for it are wise. 


When the transaction which insures our 
eternal welfare has been made once for all, we 
then are prepared to serve God here below. It 
is this sense of eternal security which does so 
much to make our immediate work and witness 
effective. 


It is not asking too much that the way to, 
and the assurance of, eternal life shall be primary 
and basic in Christian instruction. 


leach a man how to die and he has learned 
the first lesson in how to live. L.N.B. 


nn 66 ” 

Those “Queer” People 
Presbyterians are rightly afraid of undue 
emotional reactions and manifestations. This 
justified fear, however, may have caused us to 
veer too much in the other direction. But, there 
are other manifestations of genuine Christian 
conviction and activity which we repress only 
at great loss. 


\s an illustration, we usually take only a 
minor interest in personal witnessing for Christ. 
We rarely gather for united prayer for specific 
objectives, other than at stated intervals and 
then our prayers often seem lacking in a real 
sense of urgency. 


Our attention has recently been forcibly 
called to what a few people with first-century 
Christian zeal have been doing. Many of us 
would be inclined to think they are “queer” 
in their determination to know Christ and make 
Him known, but, do they not have something 
we have lost - or never had? 


We are thinking of ascouple who have had 
considerable trouble, financial and otherwise. 
But, they have through all of this main- 
tained a sweetness of spirit and a radiance of 
faith which has been inspiring. Recently, a 
prominent professional man, to whom they had 
been going, became involved in a serious situa- 
tion of his own making. Only then did we 
learn that this couple had been faithfully pre- 
senting to this man the claims of Christ. When 








rhe § P V " Journal, a Presé in Week 

G pel, Faith hich wa once for all del red unt 

in J al, I Weaverville, N. € 

Entered as second-class matter May 15, 1942, at the Post 
Vol. XIV, N 26, October 26, 1955. Editorial and Business Offices 
Pres \ ll N. ¢ 

Appress CHANG? When changing address, please let us ha 
three weeks a nge if not sent in advance. When possible, 


ent, defense and propagation of 


ry Wednesday by The Southern Presby- 


’ 


e at Weaverville, N. C., under the Act of March 3, 1879. 
i Printed in the U.S.A. by Biltmore 


Id and new address as far in advance as possible. Allow 
| giving your old address. 








OCTOBER 26, 1955 


PAGE 3 








this crisis in his life arose this couple immedi- 
ately took steps to contact him and _ further 
their loving witness to him. 


Queer? - How the world needs more queer 
people like this! ! 


We recently were called upon to perform a 
most serious operation, one which could well 
be fatal and of which the patient was desperate- 
ly afraid, almost to the point of complete emo- 
tional shock. 


One who lives close to the Lord knew of 
this situation and passed the word on to pray- 
ing friends. The writer knew nothing of this 
until the operation was successfully performed. 
At operation a number of technical difficulties 
disappeared, one after the other, and there was 
a wonderful sense of God’s presence and help. 


Only when this was over did we discover that 
all through the night previous to surgery a 
group of Christian women had been praying, 
each being responsible for thirty minutes dur- 
ing the night, forging a continuous chain of 
prayer for the patient and for the surgeon. 
When this was later known, all involved under- 
stood where the sense of peace came from and 
why those technical difficulties disappeared, one 
after the other. 


Queer people? Thank God for them and how 
we do need more of them. 


God give us the grace to be fools for Christ’s 


sake. —I,.N.B. 


God Will Hold Us Responsible 


Frank Laubach who has taught millions over 
the world to read, says, ““Ten thousand people 
in America promised to pray for our literacy 
work. Their prayers have opened the doors of 
men’s hearts around the whole world like an 
invisible love force, and have made impossible 
obstacles melt away like steel before a blow 
torch. The enormous results which appear 
when many people pray is, what makes me sure 
we can do any good thing if enough of us pray 
enough. Intercessory prayer is as irresistible as 
Jesus declared it was, - ‘whatsover ye ask in my 
name, believing it shall be done.’ He said that 
a dozen different ways.” 


Is it not possible to enlist a hundred thou- 
sand pray-ers over our church and across the 
nation who will be God’s partners in helping 
to usher in a new day for the cause of Christ 
here and everywhere. Revival is always a sov- 
ereign work of God and yet He has been pleased 
to use over and over again those souls deeply 
concerned and burdened for Zion that she shall 
be the praise of all the earth. 


Do you share with us the feeling that we are 
in serious danger of accepting man’s “low-good” 


PAGE 4 








PRESBYTERIAN JUNIOR COLLEGE 


Educational excellence. Member Southern Association Col- 
lege and Secondary Schools Endowed. Christian emphasis. 
A.A. and A.S. degrees. Graduates transfer to Junior Class 
best colleges. Professor each ten students. Personal atten- 
tion. Scientific tests. Athletics. Two-year business course. 
Preparatory department with 11th, 12th grades. Veterans. 
Moderate charges. Scholarships. Self-help. Second Semester 
begins January 30, 1956. 


PRESBYTERIAN JUNIOR COLLEGE 
Box 38-W — Maxton, N. C. 














Young Presbyterian U.S.A. Minister desirous of 
transferring to a Southern Presbyterian Church 
seeking a Pastor that is Bible believing, missions 
minded, with an evangelistic emphasis. Would con- 
sider a position as assistant minister. Write — 
MINISTER, c/o The Southern Presbyterian Jour. 
nal, Weaverville, N. C. 





instead of God’s “high - best.”” To put it simply, 
are we not prone to accept full congregations, 
growing Sunday Schools, excellent equipment, 
elegant buildings and even larger additions to 
our church rolls, in place of a burning love for 
the lest, true repentance for our sins, heart- 
searching fervent prayer and a joyous exuberant 
witness to cur Lord’s saving power. We rejoice 
in the crowds that appear everywhere on Sun- 
day morning but we weep for those that are 
missing on Wednesday evening. May we hum- 
bly and earnestly express the opinion that our 
greatest need is not for MORE but for a BET- 
TER CLASS of devout Spirit-filled members, 
both men and women. 


We have been reading afresh David's great 
penitential outpouring of guilt as told in Psalm 
51. We wonder, if, maybe, we have not been 
more guilty than he who stole’ beautiful 
tathsheba and who murdered Uriah the Hittite. 
Somehow, it seems that we are living under a 
terrific judgment and standing condemnation 
until we can be the humble servants under 
God and praver-helpers in a mighty revival. 
If you will follow the course of David's spiritual 
upheaval you may discover something significant 
for the needs ef our times. The order is inter- 
esting, “Create in me a clean heart,” - “Restore 
unto me the joy of salvation.” - “Then, will J 
teach transgressors Thy ways and sinners shall 
be converted unto Thee.” Cleansing, Joy, Service. 


Dr. John Timothy Stone, Pastor-Emeritus of 
the Fourth Presbyterian Church, Chicago, told 
of the conversion of a gangster in his church. 
This one-time great-sinner was given a class 
ef boys in Sunday School. The enthusiasm of 
this new-born saint was most inspiring. With 
Bible in hand he seemed to be literally pouring 
out the truth before the class on Sunday morn- 
ings. Doubtless he was ignorant of many of the 
best educational techniques, yet, in three months 
every boy accepted Christ and united with the 
church. We are reminded of the words of the 
late Dr. Campbell Morgan, “Every church needs 
a first class conversion.”” May we humbly sug- 





THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN JOURNAL 











ge 


su 















gest it needs the frequent conversion of several 
such. 


Some may feel that we have an undue craving 
for the spectacular and the unusual. Surely the 
conversion of most people is a quiet yet a very 
wonderful transformation, unheralded and un- 
sung. What we are looking for is something 
more profound in the experience of the average 
Christian. If we read our New Testament aright, 
with one exception, the Apostle Paul prayed 
for deeper spiritual knowledge, power and love, 
plus a proper walk for the Christians of his 
day. So far as we know, there is no recorded 
prayer for the millions of pagans of the Roman 
world. He seemed to feel that if the Church 
was in right contact with God there would be 
no trouble in reaching the unsaved around 
them. We have something akin to the feeling 
of William Booth who said, in effect, “What I 
fear in these times is renewal without revival; 
conversion without regeneration; reformation 
without repentance; sanctification without the 
Holy Spirit and prayer without power.” 


The main thrust of this effort is not to weary 
you, but to try and lay it on your hearts once 
more to see the tremendous possibilities as well 
as the staggering obligations for united inter- 
cessory prayer. We suggested in a previous issue 
the idea of a Concourse of Prayer such as Samuel 
had at Mizpeh and the disciples at Pentecost. 
This was to be followed by prayer-groups scat- 
tered all over the land. Dr. C. T. Caldwell of 
Waco, Texas, has so feelingly made a fine case 
for a Covenant of Praver. We thank him for 
this. We think, however, that none of these 
approaches need conflict, but all could be used 
with great effectiveness at the same time. 


May we again plead that you send a card 
or letter to Dr. Henry Dendy, Weaverville, N.C., 
telling him of your earnest feeling in the mat 
ter and of your willingness to cooperate in every 
way possible. Remember the promises of out 
Lord, “That whatsoever ve shall ask of the 
Father in my name, He may give it you. (John 
15:16) “What things soever ye desire, when 
ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye 





shall have them. (Mark 11:24). —R.W.C. 
Thoughts From Psalm 119 
Section 14 : NUN : Key-verse 105 : “Thy 


word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto 
my path.” 


Archaeologists found great quantities of 
broken pottery which they finally identified as 
“foot-lamps,” which people in Eastern countries 
bound on their feet to enable them to see. The 
sible is such a “foot-lamp.” It lights up the 


many paths we travel as we journey through life. 


I. The Path of Duty: 
Our Catechism says that the Word teaches 
us what we 


are to believe concerning God, and 


OCTOBER 26. 





1955 








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BOARD of CHURCH EXTENSION 


341-B Ponce deLeon Ave., N. E., Dept. A-3, Atlanta, Ga. 





what duty God requires of men. There is our 
duty to God; to love Him with all our heart, 
mind, soul, and strength. There is our duty to 
men; to love our neighbor as ourselves. There 
are duties to Country; to our Homes; to those 
around us. The Bible enables us to see clearly, 
and commands us to perform faithfully, all these 
and other duties. 


Il. The Path of Difficulty: 


Our path is sometimes steep and rough and 
tiresome : we, like the Israelites, become “dis- 
couraged because of the way.” The Word of 
God. throws a flood of light on the “Hill Diffi- 
culty.” It gives us Strength for difficult days. 


Ill. The Path of Danger: 


We are living in the “enemy’s country; he 
spreads traps and snares all along our pathway. 
Temptations galore; trials and hardships; perse- 
cution; even death. Who follows in His train? 
The “noble army” needs Courage : the Word 
of God gives the courage we must have. 


IV. The Path of Defilement: 


When I was a boy we had many “muddy 
roads.” The path we have to travel on our way 
to the “Celestial City” is often a muddy path. 
Sin is all around us. Can we walk through life 
and keep ourselves “unspotted from the world”? 
The Word tells us how we may live clean lives 
in an unclean world. 





PAGE 5 











The Passing Of The Giants 


By Rev. Robert F. Gribble, D.D. 






Austin Seminary, Austin, Texas 


This article was written some years back out of a situation which then was rather acute. It 1s 


released now only in the hope that the satirical,-we 


trust not scurrilous, hyperbole will shake up 


the men in the ministry that they may be reminded over and over again that their calling is the 
most serious and sacred and demanding vocation of man, that temptations are many and constant 
to turn aside, to fall short, to default; but that in all, for the man who has the willing mind, 


our sufficiency is of God.—R.F.G. 


Gulliver, you need travel no more: pygmies 
are crowding your door-step. This is the hour 
for Lilliputians and Brobdingnagians and _ all 
others of like stature. The ancient oracles of 
God proclaim: “There were giants in those 
days.” But where are they now? 


Let none overhasty, say that this is old stuff, 
the frustration of senility. And if indeed each 
patriachal era thinks that its world is going to 
the Devil, let critics chew on the thought that 
mavhap such thinking expressed in hyperbole, 
is an agent towards partial recovery. God grant 
it! And let him who decries, face the fact of 
declining scholarship and lowered standards as 
phenemena found in college and in university 
as well as in seminary, and in the ministry as 
well as in business and the other professions, in 
this good year cf our Lord, 1955. 


“In those days’ were men who towered,— 
whether physically or no—in moral and spirit- 
ual frame. They shunned not to believe the 
whole Bible nor to declare the whole counsel 
cf God. Thev refused profane and oldwives 
tales, and brooked no opposition of science false- 
ly so-called. and not because they were unable 
to comprehend the depth of philosophy in- 
volved, but because they appraised them and 
met them as falsehoods, and openly branded 
them lies by a superior intellectuality which 
found Holy Writ a shining light and a brilliant 
lamp. Nor did they stultify their intellect by 
believing the Bible to be the Word of God and 
true: they honored them, so. They were not 
second-rate intelligences to demand a rational 
explanation of every reference to the super- 
natural in the Book; not humanistic pin-heads 
to refuse to tread the high places with the Lord, 
faith illuminating that which sight could not 
comprehend. 


Now it is doubtless true that there were 
giants in those days, by relativity. The general 
level of learning was low. Only the Parson and 
a small coterie towered above their fellows. By 
contrast, these days see the many who have 
pushed their way upward through the dark of 
ignorance to the light of intellectuality. College 
is Open to any person. Lack of money, and even 


PAGE 6 





paucity of brains, means no debar. The plow 
boy indeed does know more about the Bible 
than the king,—not the play-boy! The Con- 
necticut Yankee and King Arthur’s Court are 
no more. Only in his technical field can the 
preacher excel. The degreed crowd, not the 


profanum vulgus, is his audience now. Woe 
therefore to the preacher who does not know 
the Bible and proclaim it. . . . And so, no 


giants, they say; but not alone for such reason 
surely. 


How little do we appreciate our privileges. 
There were times in this land when books being 
few, and students craving a place at the fount 
of knowledge, a boy would be content, yea eager, 
to lie on a puncheon floor, and by the light 
of a pine knet, eke out a modicum of learning, 
and more! The cry then was for opportunity; 
now, the swelling chcrus from humanity’s throat 
is for entertainment. “In those days,” men met 
the stern demands for wisdom, paying any price: 
in our times, it must be hand-me-down, and 
on a silver platter, stream-lined, air-conditioned, 
plush-seated, denatured. Then, there were 
“wooden ships and iren men”: now, iron ships 
and wool-gathering mannequins. Of yore, tiptoe 
eagerness shrank at no tariff: in this present, 
the cretinous acolyte demands a bonanza; he 
must be spoon-fed; it is vitamized education, 
predigested pabulum, and doctrine a la carte. 


Let us grant that the age precludes intel- 
lectual giantry: there should still be no embargo 
on moral prowess. Goodness is more to be de- 
sired than brains. Is it super man or dilettante, 
in ethics? Surely moral giants should be more 
plentiful than mental. But just here the pro- 
claimer of the eternals tumbles. Sorry is the 
light when the secular educationist reneges in 
the demand for serious lucubration; it is un- 
believable and intolerable when a _ candidate 
for the ministry asks for short cuts. Giants 
indeed are scarce; but no tyros. In humiliation 
we confess the suspicion that our ministerial 
timber lacks seasoning, and further, it seems 
unwilling to be seasoned for the terrific grind, 
the all but unbearable burdens of the ministry, 
of which it is blissfully ignorant. See the tough- 
ening of the soldiers for this world’s warfare 


THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN JOURNAL 











‘O 


mn 


al 








in preparation for nerve-racking conditions in 
the field of battle; then look at our recruits 
for that war from which there is no discharge, 
and cry: For shame, Soldiers of the Lord! 


In those days the giants were well-content 
with the bread of affliction and the water ol 
tears, holding it honor to suffer for His Name's 
sake. They counted not the cost, happy in 
the thought that they were in the line of the 
prophets at any price. Now, they figure to 
the penny and demand full change. Then, they 
served without money and without price: now, 
they must have cash on the barrel-head, a fat 
subsidy, with a benefice thrown in, before they 
can be inveigled into harness. Then, a man 
tried his gifts and felt humbly grateful, even 
elated, to have any of the faithful hear him, 
gratis. Now, the most mediocre must have a 
paying Church and a goodly sum at which he 
is prized before he can dispense the benefits of 
the Gospel. Then, they reckoned themselves 
unworthy of the least of God’s mercies and ol 
the praises of their fellows; now, they smile 
with condescension on hoi pollot who, knowing 
not the law, are accursed, and swell with mock 
modesty at the honeyed words of sycophants,- 
their due. The day of the giants has passed! 
P.S. Fly-by-night hucksters, they sail into a con- 
gregation and as lords over God's heritage; they 
presume to revolutionize the established ordet 
of worship over night; and “Who can oppose 
the preacher?” (Echo: “The preacher!”) . 


Ask the fathers if in their day, one took upon 
him the sacred vows, enrolled in a theological 
seminary, and then forthwith presumed to use 
sacrificial money dedicated to the Lord and to 
the needs of His servants (not luxuries), in self- 
ish fashion, and exercising his own sweet will 
and option in attending on instruction and in 
conforming to the legitimate requirements, 
which his oath entailed. But now,-witness O 
ye saints! - responsibilities rest lightly on the 
sleeve; a back-hand gesture is paid to classes; 
and they weigh anchor two days early on week- 
end voyages to “preach” in “their” Churches 
whose very life it would seem depend on a Mr. 
Hand-me-down caricature of the impecunious 
parson possessed of few other virtues “pertinent” 
to the ministry, than an itching palm and the 
gift of gab. Page Erasmus! We once had giants, 
afoot: now, we are plagued with pigmies,-in 
limousines. 


And even the seminaries connive in the con- 
fusion. They advertise their respective wares. 
They talk up their show-horses. They offe: 
subsidies. And Prince Charming blandly sells 
out to the highest bidder. Theological tadpoles, 
purveying precocious preachments at a_price,- 
privately purloined. Plagiarisms permitted to 
preachers! Homiletic hitch-hikers, thumbing 


their way through every book on sermons they 
can borrow, and dubbing their utterances “‘ser- 


OCTOBER 26, 1955 








mons”,-incubator babes in scholastics, precocious 
as Job, lords of finance and finangling. The 
“hungry sheep look up, and are not fed”,-“Mil- 
ton, thou shouldst be living at this hour!” Scant 
wonder: they gather so green; they grow so 
grudgingly; they graduate so grossly gullible, 
swallowing at a gulp whatever they read in a 
book, forsooth. 


Ihe Scripture saith in re connubial bliss that 
the benedict careth for the things of this world 
how he may please his wife. But the Sacred 
Word is no longer THE WORD of God. It is 
only a book (lower-case letters): the Word of 
God is “much broader.” (Enter Karl Barth 
and train: exit the creed). The Bible - a con- 
venient source for catch-word expressions to 
lend semblance of religious flavor to flowery 
fustian. No eunuchs for the Kingdom’s sake! 
Who preach unselfishness, reject it. Who legis- 
late self-denial, eschew it. Common prayer? ‘Too 
busy. Evangelism? In polite society! Yet piety 
is perambulated. Smoking and _— snacking; 
hourly demi-tasse,-modern substitutes for the 
midnight oil and prayerful lucubration in pri- 
vate. No giants found here. 


Enrolled as internes, they cry immediately 
to be allowed the operating room for major 
surgeries. Professing to be under direction of 
Presbytery, they forthwith depart to do as they 
please,-lor which there is a word in_ politics. 
Rubber-stamped by their Church Court, bene- 
liced by an unsuspecting Church, these kinder- 
gartners quickly evolve into autocrats, untouch- 
ables; and out into the ministry they go; and 
from their point of vantage, they rail at the 
doctrines and the constitution which they have 
sworn to uphold. And then a fit is thrown when 
it is even whispered that there are heretics in 
the Church. 


here was a day when the pastor taught the 
people, and when under his preaching, planned 
for a purpose, the individual and the home 
knew the discipline of Christian character by 
early private and familiar reading of the Bible 
and by prayer and the Shorter Catechism. Pres- 
byterian worship was Puritan and pure, inspir- 
ing because joined in by hearts attuned in daily 
concourse with God, and with no need of props, 
kyrie eleisons, Lord-help-us-es, and rubrics,- bor- 
rowed trappings, Reform taboo-ed. Yea, and 
when a man on oath gave assent to the creed 
and swore that he held the Bible to be the 
infallible Word of God, there was no question 
as to what he meant. His vow was an end of 
that matter. His word was like a bond indeed, 
and he above suspicion. He did not stick a 
feather in his intellectual hat for bowing Moses 
out of the Pentateuch, and another for robbing 
David of the Psalms, and another for scofting 
at the Virgin Birth, and another for denying the 
resurrection and the Second Coming. He did 
not hold that Genesis stories are “true myths.” 








PAGE 7 


He took his Bible straight! 
in those days. 


There were giants 


Plenty of recom now, both in seminary and 
in the ministry beyond. Would God we could 
say,-did say: “Only giants need apply”,-embry- 
onic giants, possessing humility, prayerful men, 
progressing in piety in modesty concealed, de- 
voted in desperate earnestness. Giants in dedi- 
cation to God, to high ideals, to a sound doc- 
trinal ministry of THE WORD, willing to suf- 
fer, to deny, to serve, come what may. For no 
mortal man can make the ministry safe for 
mediocrity! Ah, in such circumstance, then we 
could also undertake to advise and say: “Gul- 
liver, travel!”” For such day would again be, as 
of old, the day of giants. 





Helps To Understanding 
Scripture Readings 
in Day by Day 


Sunday, October 50, Deuteronomy 6:3-15. 

Moses exhorts a new generation of Israelites 
to obey the laws of God as they prepare to 
enter the Promised Land. Like the Israelite, 
the Christian is totally dependent on the Lord 
for his redemption (v.12). Do your physical 
blessings make you forget the God who has 
saved you and given you all things to enjoy 
(vv.11,12)? What exhortations are given to 
follow God (vv.3-9)? How do vv.6-9 show the 
thoroughness with which the Scriptures are to 
be taught? Are your young people thoroughly 
grounded in Christian doctrine and in the Word? 
What motivation is given in vv.10-11 for loving 
God (v.5)? What motivation is given in vv.14-15 
for fearing God (v.13)? Do you fear God fo1 
His awesome holiness and justice, yet love Him 
for His kindness and goodness to you? 


Monday, October 31, Luke 1:76-79. 

Before you read this passage which contains 
God's estimate of John the Baptist, look at 
his life as it must have appeared to the people 
of his day. Examine his dress and diet (Mat- 
thew 3:4). Was his message always a pleasant 
one (Matthew 3:2,7-11)? Did he trv to build 
himself up as an important prophet of God 
(John 1:27;3:30)? Was his ministry a spectacu- 
lar one (John 10:41)? How did he spend his 
last days (Matthew 4:12)? How did he die 
(Matthew 14:10)? Now look at God’s evalua- 
tion of this man (Luke 1:76-79). Study this 
passage to discover what it was about John that 
caused God to attribute such grandeur and 
greatness to his life. How does the world look 
upon your life? What is God’s estimate of it? 
What is it that you lack that keeps you from 
being great in His sight? 


Tuesday, November 1, Romans 5:1-8. 
Paul has shown that the Christian is saved 
by faith in Christ and not by his own good 


PAGE 8 








9 


works (3:28;4:2-3). What results from a saving 
faith in Christ (5:1b)? Because we have peace 
with God we have hope for the future (v.2b). 
What guarantee is there in the Christian’s heart 
that his hope is real (v.5)? Do you have this 
guarantee? What does saving faith mean to us 
in times of weakness and tribulation (v.4,5) ? 
What visible evidence has God shown us of 
His regard for us in our sinful and helpless 
condition (vv.6,8)? How is God’s love com- 
pared to that of man (v.7)? Do you have a 
saving faith in Christ? real peace with God? 
certain hope for the future? 

Wednesday, November 2, 1 John 3:16-18. 

Love is of the very nature and character of 
God (4:8b). Yet it is impossible, even for God, 
to love without expressing His love in action 
(3:16). The cross is God’s expression of His 
love for man (v.16). Can you be sure that God 
dwells in your heart unless His kind of love 
is characteristic of your life? If God had simply 
said He loved us without showing His love in 
action, would we be drawn to Him? Is there 
someone who might be drawn to Christ if you 
demonstrated to him in some way the love of 
God that dwells in you (v.18)? John stresses 
that real Christian love comes from a_ heart 
that is grounded in Christian truth (v.18b; 
t:1-3,6). What relation is stressed here between 
correct doctrine and Christian character? Does 
your belief in correct doctrine result in loving 
acts toward others? 


Thursday, November 3, Psalm 25:5-9. 

Watch the steps the sincere Christian takes 
when he stumbles and sins: (a) He is deeply 
sorrowful over his sin (v.11). [What is God’s 
attitude toward the penitent sinner (vv.6,7) ?] 
(b) He is humbled at seeing himself as he 
really is (vv.8-9). (c) He pleads for forgive- 
ness (vv.6-7,11). (d) He thirsts for a more 
holy walk (vv.4-5). [What is the nature of the 
paths of the Lord for which he seeks (vv.8-10) ?] 
(e) He waits upon God for cleansing as well 
as forgiveness (v.5). When you sin, are you 
truly sorry and do you long for victory over 
your sin? Do you wait upon the Lord to cleanse 
your heart after He has forgiven your sin 
(1 John 1:9)? Repeat verses 4-10 to yourself 
as a prayer to God. 


Friday, November 4, I John 4:7-2 

The very essence of Christianity seems to 
be the love that God in Christ places in our 
hearts when He dwells within. List all the 
facts you can find about love: its source, how 
it is obtained, how God has manifested it, how 
it should be manifested in our lives. Notice 
the results of love in our lives in our attitude 
toward others (vv.11,19,20-21), in our relation- 
ship to God (vv.7b,12b,16b). Who is the liar 
of v. 20? Do you have the witness of the Holy 
Spirit to God's presence in your heart (v.13) ? 
Has His love in you affected your conduct 





THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN JOURNAL 











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toward others? If God’s love completely floods 
your soul, how will that affect your attitude 
toward the day of judgment (vv.17-18)? If 
Christ’s love completely controls you, is there 
anything else God asks of you (vv.17-18) ? 


Saturday, November 5, Romans 10:11-15. 
Observe the way in which Paul uses the Scrip- 
tures to sustain his argument. Paul begins by 
showing that a man is saved by faith (vv.4,6). 
How does Paul sustain this fact by his quota- 
tion from Deut. 30:12-14 (vv.6,7,8)? What is 
the condition of salvation set forth in (vv.9-10) ? 





Hew does the quotation in v.11 of Isaiah 28:16 
back it up? Having believed in Christ with 
your heart do you confess Him before men? 
How does the quotation in v.13 from Joel 2:32 
support what Paul says in v.12? What answer 
is expected to each of the questions in vv.14- 
15a? How does the quotation in v.15b from 
Isaiah 52:7 show the dignity of the call to 
preach the gospel? Do you have such a con- 
cept of the call? Would you be willing to re- 
spond to the call? Are you able to back up 
with Scripture references the great facts that 
you believe concerning the Christian Gospel? 





SABBATH SCHOOL LESSONS 





LESSON FOR NOVEMBER 6 


REV. J. KENTON PARKER 





Jesus Meets Human Needs 


Background Scripture: Luke 5:1—6:16 
Devotional Reading: Matthew 25:31-40 


Human Needs are two-fold 


Needs of the Body, and Needs of the Soul. Jesus, the Great 


Physician, can heal a sick body; He can also heal a sick soul. This is seen in all His miracles 
of healing, and in a most vivid way in the healing of the man sick with the palsy. The healing 


of the soul was the most important by far. 


In our selection for today we see that Jesus wants us to help Him meet the needs of our fellow- 


men. We are to be “fishers of men.” He chose 
the Twelve Apostles that they might be with 
Him and that He might teach them to do the 
sort of work which He was constantly doing. 
We are here in the world to do this now. 


In our Devotional Reading from Matthew 
25 we find that He expects us to be doing good 
to others in His name. Inasmuch as ye did it 
to one of the least of these, my brethren, ye 
did it unto me; inasmuch as ye did it not to 
one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. 
Failure to do is ground for condemnation. Peo- 
ple are hungry and thirsty and naked and sick 
and in prison, both as to their bodies and souls. 
Our business, as His disciples, is to do all we 
can to meet this terrible need, both material 
and spiritual. We must not stop with their 
bodily needs, great as these are, but we must 
seek, as He did, to reach and help their deep 
need of forgiveness and cleansing in the inne 
man of the heart. All our philanthropic work, 
fine as it may be, is but a means to minister 
also to rebuilding the character of helpless sin- 
ners through the power of the Great Physician, 
Who can feed hungry hearts, and satisfy the 
thirst of their souls; Who can make the “stran- 
ger” a child of God, and liberate the prisonet 
from the prison-house of sin, and clothe the 
naked with a robe of righteousness. For instance, 
when Jesus had fed the five thousand, He 


OCTOBER 26, 1955 








preached one of His great sermons on the text, 
Labor not for the food that perishes, but for 
the food that endures unto eternal life, and 
declared that He was the Bread which came 
down from heaven. 


Another lesson, before we proceed to the main 
topic : The needs of men take the place of 
great importance. Jesus healed on the Sabbath, 
and when He was criticized for doing so by the 
Pharisees, he reminded them of what David 
did when he was hungry, eating the shewbread 
which was not lawful except for the priests. 
Just so, it is lawful and right to do good, to 
heal, on the Sabbath. The Sabbath was made 
for man, not man for the Sabbath, and The 
Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. As our 
Catechism puts it, works of necessity and mercy 
are lawful. The Sabbath is to be a blessing, 
not a burden: man needs the Sabbath. 


We will now take up some of the incidents 
of our lesson which show the Needs of men, and 
how they can be met. 


I. The Miraculous Draught of Fishes: 5:1-11. 


If we are to be “Fishers of men,” Jesus, the 
Great Fisher of men, must tell us where to fish. 
We may often toil all night and take nothing, 


PAGE 9 















unless He guides us by His Spirit. Then we 
can let down our nets and gather in the fish. 
We are to help Him meet the needs of men, 
but we must let Him be our Guide as to the 
place we fish. Only the Master “Fisherman” 
can tell us where to let down our nets for a 
draught. 


II. “A Man full of leprosy”: 5:12-17. 

Leprosy is one of the best known types of 
sin in the Bible. It is a loathsome, unclean 
disease. The man who had it was to keep him- 
self apart from others and warn them of his 
presence by crying, “Unclean, Unclean.” It is 
an infectious disease, so the leper was not to 
associate with his fellowmen. 


A “man full of leprosy” is a distressing sight; 
so is a man “full of sin.” All have sinned, 
but sin has taken more complete possession ol 
some. Even a man full of leprosy could be 
instantly cured and made clean through the 
touch of the Great Physician. The “touch” olf 
Jesus shows His compassion; He did not have 
to touch him; just a word would have been 
sufficient. Men “full of sin” are the objects 
of His compassion, and He can heal and cleanse. 


I have included verse 17 because it brings 
out the fact that the power of the Lord was 
present to heal even the Pharisees and doctors 
of the law. They would have scorned the idea 
that they needed any healing; that they in any 
way resembled the poor leper. Yet these proud 
men were as full of sin as he was of leprosy. 
Their selt-righteousness and unbelief prevented 
them from either recognizing their condition, 
or of being healed. There are people like them 
in our day. Some have Doctor’s degrees and 
teach in our Universities. 


Il. “A Man which was taken with a palsy” 
18-26. 


Sin makes us as helpless as this man with 
the palsy. When we speak of “Total Depravity” 
we mean for one thing, that men are unable 
to save themselves. Sin has paralyzed them. 


This miracle is most interesting and instruc- 
tive. There are several points of special interest 
and importance. First, there were the fow 
friends who brought him to Jesus. If every 
helpless sinner had four such persevering and 
loyal friends perhaps more of them would be 
brought to Jesus. We were having a Revival 
just recently. The invitation had been given. 
The preacher told me that he saw one of my 
deacons bend over to speak to a young couple 
in the seat in front of him. The wife looked 
at her husband and said something. They both 
came forward with their young baby and a 
cepted Christ and were received into the church. 
It is a great thing to have one, or four, friends 
who are willing to speak to us and lead us to 


PAGE 





10 


Christ. These four men were not easily dis- 
couraged. They could not get in by the door, 
so they climbed the steps and uncovered the 
roof and let him down in front of Jesus. If 
we would persevere, even in the face of obstacles, 
we would often succeed. We give up too soon. 


Another interesting point is what Jesus said 
to the leper: “Man, thy sins are forgiven thee.” 
The leper had come with a sick, paralyzed body. 
Jesus looked through the helpless body to 
the helpless soul. This word of His, of course, 
brought immediate criticism from the watching 
scribes and Pharisees: Who can forgive sins but 
God only? Then Jesus proves that He is God, 
and that He has the authority on earth to for- 
give sins, by telling the man to rise up and 
walk. While no one could see the miracle per- 
formed on the man’s soul, all could see whether 
he would rise up and walk. In this way they 
would know, unless unbelief hardened then 
hearts. Yes, Jesus Christ, the Great Physician, 
can heal paralyzed souls. Will we play the part 
of a real friend and help bring such men _ to 


Him? 


“We have seen strange things today.” Things 
like this, as strange and as marvelous, ought 
to be seen in our churches every Sabbath Day. 
Do we yearn to see such things? or are we 
satistied just to come and worship and go away? 


IV. “And Levi made him a great feast’: 27-39. 


Levi, or Matthew, was a publican, and pub- 
licans and sinners were classified together in 
the eyes of the Pharisees. Levi, after he had 
heard and answered the call of Jesus, made a 
great feast. They who are forgiven much, love 
much, and this was his way of expressing that 
love. This was a very dilfferent feast from the 


one made by a Pharisee later on. (see Luke 
7:36-50) 


Jesus answers the criticism of his enemies 
by stating a simple fact: They that are whole 
need not a physician, but they that are sick. 
Those who think that they are “whole,” like 
the proud Pharisees. As long as a man believes 
that he is well, he will not send for a doctor. 
Ihe Pharisees were sick, but they did not realize 
their condition. 


I have included verses 33-39 and wish to say 
just a word or two. When sinners are being 
saved it is a time of “feasting,” rather than 
“fasting.” There is joy in heaven over one sin- 
ner that repents. Then, too, we must not try 
to confine the new and glorious truths of the 
Gospel in the old forms and ceremonies of the 
old dispensation. The “new wine” is the “good 
news” that has come with the Savior. 


V.°A Man whose right hand was withered’: 6:6. 


Jesus was constantly having controversies with 
the Pharisees over the Sabbath Day, and what 








THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN JOURNAL 


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could be done, and could not be done, on that 
day. The disciples had caused criticism when 
they rubbed out some of the grain and ate it, 
as they were passing through the fields. On this 
Sabbath he enters the synagogue and finds the 
man with the withered hand. His enemies watch 
to see what He would do. He knew then 
thoughts, and said to the man, Rise up, and 


stand forth. He asked the question, Is it lawful 
on the Sabbath day to do good, or to do evil? 


He said to the 
man, Stretch forth thy hand. And he did so. 


to save life, or to destroy it? 


This was the very thing which, in his own 
power, he could not do, but he did it. Faith 


enables us to do the impossible. 





YOUNG PEOPLE'S DEPARTMENT 





YOUTH PROGRAM FOR NOVEMBER 6 
You Are 


Hymn: “How Firm A Foundation” 

Praye} 

Scripture: Acts I:1-1] 

Hymn: “We've a Story to Tell to the Nations” 
Olfering 

Hymn: “So Let Our Lips and Lives Express” 


PROGRAM LEADER: 


\ witness is a person who tells what he knows. 
In the courts of law the witness shares his 
knowledge that the facts of the case may be 
brought forth clearly. A Christian witness is a 
person who has knowledge of Christ and who 
tells what he knows. Jesus said to His disciples, 
“Ye shall be witnesses unto Me.” He knew that 
they had knowledge of Him, and He command 
ed them to tell what they knew. The same prin- 
ciple holds for us. If we are Christians, we know 
something about Christ . . . we know Him as 
a person and our Saviour. Because we know 
Him, we are obligated to make Him known. 
Christ commands us to be His witnesses 
to tell what we know about Him. 


We make a mistake when we think of evan 
gelism purely as a matter of persuading people 
to accept what we believe. In the law courts 
it is not the business of the witness to argue, 
he simply sets forth the facts as he knows them. 
He shares the knowledge he has. The Christian 
witness ought to think of himself as having 
something to share. The most powerlul type 
of witnessing is not argumentation but the sim- 
ple telling of what Christ has done for us. We 
should not think a person is doing us a favor 
when he comes to our church and accepts out 
Christ. We do him a favor when we share with 
him our knowledge of the Saviour. This is not 
so sav that we should be unconcerned about 
people, but that we are not to be apologetic 
ibout Christ. When we tell others of Him, we 
ire sharing the most 
have. 


prec ious possession we 


Before we can begin witnessing, we must de 
termine what we know. What do we know 








OCTOBER 26, 1955 


REV. B. HOYT EVANS 





W itnesses 


about Christ? What do we have to share with 
others? Our speakers will lead us in a discus- 
sion of some of the things about Christ that 
we can surely know and some of the things of 
Him that we have to share. 

First SPEAKER: 

\s we discovered in the program last week, 
we can know that Christ is our righteousness. 
We know that people are seeking the approval 
of God and that God will approve only those 
who are righteous. We know that it is impos- 
sible for human beings in their own strength 
to meet God's standards, but we have discovered 
in the Bible and in our own experience that 
Christ forgives the sin of those who believe in 
Him and that He clothes them in His perfect 
righteousness. All thinking people realize that 
their greatest need of all is to be acceptable 
in the sight of God. We who are Christians 
know that we have the righteousness of Christ 
and that it has made us acceptable to God. We 
know that all who believe in Christ may re- 
ceive this righteousness even as we have received 
it. This knowledge we have is tremendously 
important, and it is this knowledge which we 
must share with others as witnesses of Christ. 


SECOND SPEAKER: 


When a person has become acceptable to 
God by putting on the righteousness of Christ, 
he then wants to know about God’s way of life. 
He needs to know what God’s people are sup- 
posed to be doing. The Christian has this kind 
of knowledge, and, as a witness, he is supposed 
to share it. God has given us the Ten Command- 
ments as His standard for our moral life. Christ 
has taken that eternally valid law and given it 
a true spiritual interpretation. He has told us 
that the sum of God's law is to love Him with 
all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and our 
neighbor as ourselves. Christ demonstrated that 
love in His own life. He loved God, and did 
His will perfectly. He loved us, and gave Him- 
self for us. When we know Christ, we know 


PAGE 11 





how Christians are supposea to live. As wit- 
nesses of Christ, we are to share this knowledge 
by our words and our works. 


THIRD SPEAKER: 

We not only have knowledge which we can 
share, we have a life to share. It has been said 
over and over again that people want to feel 
that they belong to somebody or some thing. 
We who are Christians do belong. We belong 
to Christ, and we belong to His church. Christ 
lives in us, and we live in Him. The church 
is His body, and we are a part of it. We have 
a fellowship with Christ and with His people 
that is rich and satisfying. If this fellowship 
is what the world is seeking earnestly, and if 
we have it, then certainly we ought to be willing 
to share it. This fellowship is something we 
can share, because others can enter it in the 
same way we did, that is, by faith. Our re- 
sponsibility is to tell them of the fellowship 
which we know. 


PROGRAM LEADER: 

We sing the hymn, “We've a Story to Tell to 
the Nations,” and indeed we do have a wonder- 
ful story. We can tell of righteousness, of life, 
and of fellowship, but we cannot tell our story 
very convincingly until we are sure that we 
know it ourselves. A witness who repeats what 
he has heard is not nearly as valuable as one 
who reports on his own experiences. Perhaps 
some self-examination is in order. Are we sure 
that we have had a first-hand experience with 
Christ? If so, are we being faithful witnesses fon 


Him? 


Women’s Work 


1956 in Women of the Church 
Emphasis 





Christian Family Life 


Christian Family Life will be carried out in 
all program material for the year. These, as 
planned by the Board of Women’s Work, 
include— 


General Programs “Forward in Family Life” 


A packet of 12 monthly programs plus an 
optional program in form of dramatic presen- 
tation of Hebrew Family Life. 

January—“Why an Emphasis on Family Life” 

(Introducing the year’s work) 
February—‘‘Christian America Means Christian 

Families” 


March—“Creating a Christian Atmosphere in 
the Home” 


April—**Planning Family Life Together” (Joint 
meeting of men and women) 


May—‘The 1956 Birthday Objective of Women 
of the Church” 


PAGE 12 


June—‘Together We Stand” (Methods and 
Resources for Family Worship) 


July—“The Family in the Community” 


August—““Time for Joy” (Family's Use of 
Leisure Time; Joint meeting of men and 
women) 


September—“You're a Teacher and a Pupil 
Every Day” (Teaching Religion in the Home) 


October—‘‘Come, See!” (Leading Other Families 
into the Church’s Service and Activity) 


November—“The Family’s Use _ of 


Money” 
(Joint program of men and women) 


December—“The Days of Christmas” (The 
Family’s Observance of Christmas) 


Special Study Messages to Homemakers 


Studies in Deuteronomy, prepared by James 
Sprunt. 


1. “A Message to Homemakers” 


2. “The Home and Its Foundations” Deut. 
1:6-4:40 


“The Home and Its Rule Book” Deut. 5-28 
“The Home and Its Covenant” Deut. 29-30 


» “The Home and the God-Inspired Life” 
Deut. 31-34 


6. “The God of Deuteronomy” 


Circle Bible Study — “Bible Homes and Family 
Life Today” Leader’s Guide and Workbook 


material prepared by Carolyn and William B. 
Ward. 


“Abraham and Sarah 
Tradition” 


[he Creation of a 


“Isaac and Rebekah — Ideals of Family 
Partnership” 


“Tacob and = His 
Problems’”’ 


Family” Household 


“The Home of Naomi — Wider Family 
Loyalties” 

“David: Son, Husband, Father Discipline 
and Indulgence”’ 

“Old Testament Family 
['ypical Jewish Home’”’ 

“The Church and Thy House” 

“Father and Sons 
Home” 


Ceremonies—A 


Two Prodigals in a 


“The Home at Bethany 
Was a Guest” 


“My Son Timothy 

and Pastor’ 
“Christian Ideals and the Modern Home” 
“The Home at Nazareth” 


Where Jesus 


Parents, Grandparents, 


THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN JOURNAL 











, 7 


Now 


What has been hoped for 


is now being realized— 


Because of YOU and YOUR GIFTS 
to the Presbyterian Negro Work 
Campaign, BUILDINGS like these 
are being erected at Stillman Col- 
lege, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, our 
Church’s only educational institu- 


tion for Negroes. 


New Annex to 
Men’s Dormitory 





A DREAM 
. COMES TRUE 


What we do through the Presbyterian 
Church to EDUCATE the Negro in the 
South insures an able leadership for the 
Church. 


Residence for 
Dean of College 


Women’s 
Administration- 
Residence 


Building 


Main Lounge 
in Women’s 
Administration- 
Residence 


Building 


Payments on pledges should be 
channeled through the local 
church. Other gifts may be made 
to the local church or sent directly 
to the Presbyterian Negro Work 
Campaign Office, P. O. Box 1171, 
Atlanta 1, Georgia. 








That Important Committee 


One of the most important committees at 
work now in the local Women of the Church 
groups is the Nominating Committee. It 1s 
due to the interest, prayer, understanding and 
care of a Nominating Committee that the 
Women of the Church have that good president, 
that capable treasurer and those other officers 
competently filling their obligations. This com- 
mittee should have been at work a long time. 
\ll the members of it will soon wish that they 
had been at the task sooner than this. 


Ihe members of this important committee 
study the objective of the Women of the Church 
organization, and they study the qualifications 
for each office and compile a list of possible 
women who might serve in these offices. It 


isn’t every woman who has the executive ability 
of a presiding officer nor can every woman take 
good minutes, sifting the necessary from the 
trivial items; neither is it easy to find a treasurer 


OCTOBER 26, 1955 


who can keep business-like records and files and 
pay bills on time; however, there is usually, 
in every Christian woman, a sense of responsi- 
bility and concern that will respond to the chal- 
lenge of the office and to the call of the Holy 
Spirit. The task of the committee is to find 
the right woman for every office. It is an honor 
for a woman to allow her name to be added 
to the list of candidates showing her willingness 
to make special preparation for doing the task 
in the very best way. 


The Nominating Committee will doubtless 
have before it a list of minimum qualifications 
to use for the person approached to serve ask- 
ing within their committee, “Is she the best 
one for this office?” Such a list might include 
questions like the following: 


Would she have strong reliance on God for 
guidance, courage, faithfulness? 


Would she believe in the importance and 
the value of the office and give her best to it? 


PAGE 13 













Would she be willing to continue to learn, 
co think, and to act courageously and con- 
structively? 


Would she show enthusiasm, perseverance, 
patience, loyalty? 


Does she have a friendly and sincere and 
appreciative personality, a sense of humor, 
and a bit of originality? 


Can she work co-operatively sharing honors 
and encouraging leadership in others, willing 
to forego all credit for her efforts? 


Every Nominating Committee for a_ local 
Women of the Church should also be thorough- 
ly familiar with the packet of Handbooks which 
sets forth the duties of the officers of the organi- 
zation, then through much prayer they will seek 
to secure the best person for the task to be done, 
helping each woman to realize that it is an 
honor to be asked to serve in the leadership in 
Christ’s Church and that it is no small job o 
little investment that we are asking but their 
very best in service unto Him. 


Finally and continually, the Nominating Com- 
mittee should seek to realize that theirs is a 
work with and for God in an united effort to 
assure success for the future of women’s work in 
their church. 


Millions Will Read the Bible Together 


Led by citizens of the United States, people 
in over forty countries will follow the 12th an- 
nual observance of Worldwide Bible Reading, 
sponsored each year by the American Bible 
Society. 


Starting Thanksgiving Day, November 24, and 
continuing through Christmas, thousands of 
families will be reading identical passages of 
Scripture from the greatest chapters of the Bible. 
Lists of the passages, in convenient bookmark 
form, are provided by the American Bible So- 
ciety, free of charge, to all who will use them. 
Again this year the Society has prepared the 
passages in Braille so that sightless people may 
join with others in following the readings. 
These too are available from American Bible 
Society, 450 Park Avenue, New York 22, N. Y. 

President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who is hon- 
orary chairman of a nation sponsoring commit- 
tee of laymen, has issued a strong endorsement 
of the observance, as follows: 


“Please accept my best wishes for the great- 
est possible success for this year’s Worldwide 
Bible Reading Campaign, to take place be- 
tween Thanksgiving and Christmas. In this 
period between the two holidays, when Ameri- 
cans give thanks for their blessings and renew 
their hopes for a just and lasting peace in 
the world, all of us, of whatever religious be- 


PAGE 14 











ALL of the 

WOMEN 
of the BIBLE 
by Edith Breen 


A fascinating new 
approach to the Bible... 





Perhaps never before have all the 
women of the Bible been located, 
reverently studied, arranged in order, 
and presented between the covers of 
one book. 


Based upon the Biblical record it- 
self, these studies create a living 
procession. Saints and sinners, faith- 
ful mothers and wives, queens, 
sorceresses—even business women— 
all are here in rich inspiring detail. 


Here is new and abundant material 
for evervone—the ordinary reader 
who loves story and drama—the 
teacher and preacher eager for new 
subject matter—the writer on the 
lookout for new characters or new 
slants on old—the Bible student to 
extend his knowledge. 





Each major biography is identified 
by Bible chapter and verse and pre- 
faced by a key passage of Scripture. 
There are alphabetical, chronological, 
and topical indexes. 


$4.95 


order your copy now. 
PRESBYTERIAN BOOK STORES 
Box 6127, Atlanta 5, Georgia 
Box 1020, Dallas 21, Texas 


Box 1176, Richmond 9, Virginia 
Please send me copies of 


“All of the Women of the Bible” 


Name 


Street 
City State 


[} cash [ ] charge 














THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN JOURNAL 








lief, may well turn to the Bible for guidance 
and inspiration for the tasks which lie ahead. 
I hope that many individuals and many fami- 
lies will do so, and that they will continue 
this practice in the New Year, joined by men 
and women of faith and good will in othe 
lands.”’ 


The peak of the observance comes on Uni- 
versal Bible Sunday, December 11. Churches of 
every denomination by the thousands observe 
the day throughout the United States and over- 
seas. Posters, responsive readings, bookmarks 
and other material to assist pastors in the ob- 
servance were mailed early in September to 
approximately 17,000 ministers. 





New Scriptures for Africa Published 
by the American Bible Society 


The Rev. Josef A. Persson, of the Methodist 
Episcopal Mission, who has just completed the 
revision of the Tshwa Bible, is described in 
Dr. Eugene Nida’s book, “God’s Word in Man's 
Language,” as having been given the highest 
tribute a white man could ever receive in Africa: 
“Mr. Persson may have a white skin, but his 
heart is as black as any of us!” The Bible, which 
has been published by the American Bible 
Society, is expected from the binder soon. 


There are about 750,000 Tshwa-speaking peo- 
ple, ten per cent of whom are Christians, and 
70,000 literate. The first publication in Tshwa 
was prepared in 1888 and the translation of 
the whole Bible was completed in 1908. The 
present Bible, the result of a greater under- 
standing of the language that has grown through 
the years, is eagerly looked for by the Tshwa- 
speaking Christians. 


The first whole Bible, in the African dialect 
of Luvale, has also been published by the Ameri- 
can Bible Society. These people live in Angola, 
the Belgian Congo and Northern Rhodesia, ovet 
an area of 30,000 square miles. 


The Luvale New Testament has been in use 
for some time. It was translated by F. Schindler 
and published by the Scripture Gift Mission. 
The work of revision became the concern of 
the American Bible Society as a result of war- 
time conditions in England, when the plates of 
the Schindler version were destroyed by bombs. 
The Rev. Albert E. Horton of Christian Mis- 
sions for Many Lands is responsible for the 
Old Testament translation, thus giving the en- 
tire Bible in this African language to Luvale 
readers. 





BUY YOUR 
CHRISTIAN BOOKS FROM 
THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN JOURNAL 





OCTOBER 26. 1955 


Church News 


WORLD MISSION RECEIPTS 


$3,050,000.00 
1,750,323.59 





Budget for 1955 

Receipts to date 

Percentage of annual budget 
received for 1955 

Balance needed tor 1955 


57.38%, 
1,299,676.41 





LeRoy P. Burney 


The Passing of “A Good Soldier” 


Dr. LeRoy P. Burney, 58, Director of Officer 
Training, Division of Men’s Work, Presbyterian 
Church, U.S., passed away on Saturday evening, 
October 8, 1955, at Davis Hospital in Statesville, 
North Carolina, after an extended illness of 
18 months. 


Funeral services were held in the Centre 
Presbyterian Church near Mooresville, North 
Carolina, on Monday, October 10, with burial 
in the church cemetery. Dr. Burney is survived 
by his wife, two sisters, and four brothers. Al- 
though his career was closed in comparatively 
middle life, Dr. Burney rendered a widely active 
service to his Lord. In his earlier years he was 
teacher of Bible and Education, Berry School, 
Mt. Berry, Ga.; teacher of Education, former 
Chicora College for Women, Columbia, S. C.; 
student pastor Woodleaf, Canton and Smyrna 
churches, Cherokee Presbytery; pastor Conyers 
and Smyrna churches, Atlanta Presbytery; pas- 
tor Sugaw Creek Presbyterian Church, Meck- 
lenburg Presbytery. Later he became Counsel- 
ing Executive, First Presbyterian Church and 
Reid Memorial Presbyterian Church, Augusta, 
Georgia, and Bishopville Presbyterian Church, 


He served as Regional Director of Christian 
Education, Synod of Georgia and Synod of 


PAGE 15 





South Carolina. Executive Co-ordinator of the 
Presbyterian Program of Progress. Director of 
Officer Training in the Presbyterian Church, 
U. S. 

He was the originator of the first school on 
Courtship, Marriage and Christian Family Life, 
sponsored and conducted by a church in Amer- 
ica, and originator of the Christian Mission to 
Men in the Presbyterian Church. He was a 
lecturer on Christian Education in the local 
church in ministers’ conferences in Duke Uni- 
versity, the University of Virginia, Hampton 
Institute, Johnson C. Smith University, Stillman 
College, and Virginia Polytechnic Institute. 

He is the author of “The Vacation Bible 
School - Organizing and Administering the 
Local Church Program”; “Presbyterian Elders 
and Deacons Serving Christ in the Church”; 
and numerous magazine articles on Christian 
Education and Church Administration; and a 
Training Course for Synod and_ Presbytery 
Council Members, Men’s Program, Presbyterian 
Church, U.S. 

Dr. Burney finally served as Director of Of- 
ficer Training, the Men’s Division, Board of 
Christian Presbyterian Church, U.S., and occu- 
pied this position at the time of his last illness. 


A Birmingham Architect Takes It Upon 
Himself To Do a Valuable Service 
to Our Korean Mission 

The Taejon College, an urgently needed 
Christian institution serving the area of the 
Presbyterian Mission, U.S., in Korea, came much 
closer to reality because of the recent three- 
week visit of Mr. Charles F. Davis, Jr., Birming- 
ham architect. Mr. Elder is an elder of the 
South Highland Presbyterian Church of Bir- 
mingham, Ala., and took a deep personal inter- 
est in laying out plans for the proposed campus, 
designing buildings, and suggesting types of con- 
struction suitable for use in Korea. Mr. Davis’ 
business firm is Van Keuren, Davis & Co., 
Architects & Engineers of Birmingham, Ala., and 
he has had considerable experience in college 
architecture making him doubly qualified to 
give us expert advice. The Mission College Com- 
mittee is profoundly grateful for the profession- 
al and spiritual qualifications exhibited by Mr. 
Davis and voted unanimously to adopt the pre- 
liminary campus lay-out and building plans he 
has submitted. Actual construction is expected 
to start early next spring (1956) and the first 
class will be admitted in April, 1956. Initial 
funds for the new college buildings will be sup- 
plied from the Program of Progress, and Rev. 
W. A. Linton will serve as builder, as well as 
founder and first president. We ask the prayers 
of the Church for this college, where young 
men and women of Korea will be trained for 
Christian service. Joe B. Hopper 


PAGE 16 


Birmingham, Ala. — Dr. Alva M. Gregg was 
installed as minister of Forest Hills Presbyterian 
Church, Fairfield, Alabama, at special services 
Sunday evening, September 18. The following 
commission, appointed by Birmingham Presby- 
tery to participate in the service, and their parts 
on the program, included Rev. R. D. Bedinger, 
executive secretary of Church Extension, Bir- 
mingham Presbytery, who presided and _ pro- 
pounded the questions; Dr. Edward V. Ramage, 
pastor, First Church, Birmingham, delivered the 
installation sermon; the Rev. Bernard L. Sykes, 
pastor of Birmingham’s Second Church, charged 
the minister; and A. C. Hazen, elder, delivered 
the charge to the congregation. 





Atlanta, Ga. — Ingleside Presbyterian Church 
at Scottdale, near Atlanta, broke ground at 
services Sunday afternoon, October 2, in prep- 
aration for the first unit of a new church build- 
ing. The new structure will cost $64,000. It 
will have seating capacity for 200 persons, and 
will include 17 classrooms, a kitchen, and dining 
room. 

Ministers’ Week at Columbia Seminary, to 
be held from October 31 to November 4, will 
include several events of local and church-wide 
interest. 


The Smyth Lectures will be given through- 
out the week by Bishop Arthur J. Moore of 
Atlanta. Under the general theme of “Christ’s 
Quest and Ours,” the series will emphasize The 
Ministry, The Church, The World, The Com- 
mission and The Victory. Bishop Moore will 
speak each evening—Monday through Friday— 
at eight o'clock at the Decatur Presbyterian 
Church, with the exception of Tuesday, when 
he will give his lecture at the seminary. 


Inaugural addresses by four professors will 
highlight Ministers’ Week activities. On Alumni 
Day evening at eight o'clock, Professor James 
H. Gailey will speak on the general theme, The 
Beginning of Wisdom. At eleven o'clock each 
morning—Wednesday through Friday—the fol- 
lowing speakers and topics are scheduled: 
Wednesday - Professor Richard Gillespie, God 
Making His Appeal Through Us; Thursday - 
Professor Hubert Vance Taylor, The Spirit and 
The Understanding; Friday - Professor Thomas 
McDill, Calvinism and The Cure of Souls. 


Home-coming Day exercises will be held on 
Tuesday, November 1. The Edgar D. Kerr 
Memorial Service will be held in the Seminary 
Chapel at 10:30 A. M., the Alumni Luncheon 
at 12:30 P. M., the Smyth Lecture at 3:30 P. M., 
and Dr. James H. Gailey will conclude the ac- 
tivities with an inaugural address at 8 P. M. 
in the chapel. 


A religious Art Exhibit from the Walter C. 
Barnwell Collection will be on display in the 
chapel throughout the week. 


THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN JOURNAL 





Junior services for children began at Miami 
Shores Presbyterian Church, Miami, Fla., Sun- 
day, October 2. 


First Church, Ocala, Fla., recently voted to 
buy a block next door to their sanctuary. The 
lot, purchased at a cost of $45,000 will be used 
for much-needed parking area. 


Nearly 800 guests attended a reception for 
Dr. John Kimbrough Johnson, associate min- 
ister of Idlewild Church, Memphis; his wife, 
Katherine and their sons, John, Jr., and Wil- 
liam, when that church honored its new staff 
member September 29. Dr. Johnson began 
duties at Idlewild sometime in May. He has 
held pastorates in Pulaski, Tenn., Lexington, 
Ky., and Oxford, Miss. 


The reception was given by the elders of 
Idlewild, the diaconate, and the Women of 
the Church. 





Tryon, N. C. — The congregation of Tryon 
Presbyterian Church recently voted to consider 
a new location for its church. The church is 
now located on highway 176, in the northern 
section of the city of Tryon. The Rev. Joe 
Wagner, pastor, appointed a committee to in- 
vestigate possible sites and to report to the con- 
gregation in the near future. Members of the 
committee are |. Frank Gallimore, Isham Hen- 
Hindman, and 


derson, Jack Rezeb, Mrs. C. C. 
Mrs. John M. Morse. 


Raleigh, N. C. William H. Neal, vice presi- 
dent of Wachovia Bank & Trust Co. in Winston- 
Salem, N. C., was elected chairman of the Board 
of Trustees of the new consolidated college, at 
a meeting of the Board October 3 in Raleigh. 
The college will be formed by the Synod of 
North Carolina. 


Halbert M. Jones, president of Waverly Mills, 
Inc., Laurinburg, N. C., was elected vice presi- 
dent. Dr. Ben Lacy Rose, pastor First Church, 
Wilmington, N. C., was named secretary; and 
C. E. Beman of Laurinburg, treasurer. 


On the Board’s executive committee were the 
four officers named above, plus the following: 
William P. McPherson, Raleigh; Edwin Pate, 
Laurinburg; the Rev. Warner L. Hall, Char- 
lotte; Mrs. Julian Hutaff, Fayetteville; Mrs. 
Waylon Blue, Sanford; and the Rev. Harold J. 
Dudley, Raleigh. Dr. Dudley, executive secre- 
tary of the Synod, is an ex officio member. 


The new board is made up of eight members 
irom each of the three colleges merging, plus 
‘ight members from the Synod-at-large. Peace 
Junior College at Raleigh, Flora Macdonald, 
Red Springs, and Presbyterian Junior College at 
Maxton, are the colleges to be merged. 


OCTOBER 26, 1955 














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Memphis, Tenn. R. G. LeTourneau, known 
as the man who put the bulldozer to work for 
Christianity, spoke at the Men of the Church 
meeting, Second Church, Memphis, at their din- 
ner session September 26. 

Mr. LeTourneau is nationally known for his 
zeal in foreign missions and his unique con- 
tributions to the development of undeveloped 
areas. In 1952, the manufacturer of heavy ma- 
chinery sent a missionary ship to Liberia and 
in 1954 he sent similar equipment to Peru. The 
ships carried Bibles, giant saws, bulldozers, and 
other earth-moving machinery, and a number 
of “technical missionaries” to help in cutting 
roads, building villages, and developing farms. 
The area in Africa involved a half a million 
acres. Mr. LeTourneau’s idea about his mis- 
sionary projects is that this method will teach 
the backward peoples of the world American 
know-how, and at the same time bring them 
the word of God. LeTourneau’s son, Roy, di- 
rected both of the projects. 


The manufacturer, now living at Peoria, IIL, 
says this of his missionary ideas: “There are 
two things I like to do. One is to design ma- 
chinery, turn on the power and see it work; 
the other is to tell people about the power of 
the Gospel and see it work in their lives.” 

Ninety per cent of the profits of his firm go 
into a Foundation which assists young people 
in preparing for mission work. 


PAGE 17 








- — acs — 7 


AN INTRODUCTION TO CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHY. 
J. M. Spier. Presbyterian and Reformed Pub- 
lishing Company. $3.75. 


Students of contemporary philosophy are 
aware of the significant movement in Holland 
known as Christian Philosophy developed by 
Hermann Dooyeweerd and his colleagues. It is 
called “The Philosophy of the Cosmonomic 
Idea” which means the philosophy of the idea 
of law. The underlying thought is that the 
entire world is pervaded by divine law. This 
systematic expression of philosophy claims to 
be the only truly Christian Calvinistic philoso- 
phy ever formulated. 


The principal presupposition of this philoso- 
phy is the sovereignty of God as the supreme 
source of all law. This is designated as _ the 
“Archamedian point.” 


The author’s aim in this volume is to illum- 
inate this new system of Christian philosophy. 
We agree with the translator's statement, “Those 
interested in a critical study of Christian philoso- 
phy will find that Spier provides an excellent 
introduction to the study of Dooyeweerd and 
his school Christians of all persuasions 
may find much in this movement with which 
they can be in sympathy. Those not sympathetic 


with Christianity but interested in philosophy 
will find much of interest from a historical and 
critical point of view.” 


All of us recognize that the church needs to 
construct a philosophy which is in keeping with 
Christianity. This attempt should be welcomed 
by all intelligent and truth-loving Christians. 
It is regrettable that so much of the terminology 
in this volume is extremely technical but all 
who are interested in a genuine Christian 
philosophy will certainly find this volume 
stimulating and profitable reading. J.R.R. 

REVELATION Twenty. J. Marcellus Kik. 
Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Com- 
pany. 52.00. 


Few chapters in the Bible have provoked as 
much controversy among Christians as Revela- 
tion twenty. Fortunately in recent days most 
Christians seem to be maturing in their eschato- 
logical views to such an extent that they can 
discuss the various interpretations with a greater 
measure of calmness. Since men of equal ability 
and equal faith in the inspiration of the Scrip- 
tures have differed through the years in thei 
interpretation there is little likelihood that there 
will be unanimity of thought on this subject 
until the Lord returns. In the meantime it 
is the duty of every Christian to read the best 
of all the interpretations and accept the one 


PAGE 18 


that he feels has the greatest Biblical weight 
in support of it. 


The author of this book is a graduate ol 
Princeton and Westminster Theological Sem 
inaries. For 20 years he served in the Presby 
terian Church in Canada. He is a splendid 
scholar and keeps abreast of the finest literature 
in the field of eschatology. He has been influ 
enced largely by the writings of Dr. Geerhardus 
Vos and Dr. Louis Berkhof. His position on 
the first resurrection is amillennial. He faces 
squarely the thousand year period that is men 
tioned 6 times in Revelation 20. The commend- 
able feature of this book is that the author 
does not write as an exponent of any particulan 
school of prophecy but as an exegete of Scrip- 
ture. With the exception of a couple of chap- 
ters the author has used the method of verse 
by verse exposition. The first 2 chapters con- 
cern themselves with the two resurrections. 


Ihe main ideas set forth in this chapter and 
explained by the author are: Satan will be 
bound so that he cannot deceive the nations, 
the lot of the saints during the thousand yea 
period, the first resurrection, what will occu 
when Satan is loosed again, the finish of Satan, 
death and Hades, what will occur before The 
Great White Throne, and finally the books 
which will be opened. 


It is certain that many of our readers will 
not concur in all of Dr. Kik’s views but we are 
persuaded that all readers will be greatly bene 
fited through the study of this volume. It con- 
tains many interesting paragraphs. For example 
the question is asked, “Who is the angel that 
binds Satan?” He answers, “Commentators are 
divided as to whether it is Christ or an agent 
of Christ. Personally we believe this Angel to 
be Christ. There is an Angel spoken about in 
the Old Testament who surely is the son of 
God. He appears as a manifestation of God 
Himself, one with God and yet different from 
Him. This is the Angel who appeared to Abra- 
ham, Jacob, and Moses. So it is entirely possible 
that the Angel of Revelation Twenty is Jesus 
Christ. 


“This is borne out by several other Scrip- 
tures. It is Christ who in Revelation 1:18 is 
said to ‘have the keys of hell and of death. 
It is Christ who in Genesis 3:15 is to crush the 
head of the serpent. It is Christ concerning 
whom John states in his first Epistle: ‘For this 
purpose the Son of God was manifested, that 
he might destroy the works of the devil’. From 
these passages it is apparent that Christ is the 
supreme agent who binds Satan.” 


In our day when eschatology is being re 
studied by the church, this volume is timely 
and the reader of it will be greatly rewarded. 


—§, & &: 


THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN JOURNAL 





AGAPE AND Eros. Anders Nygren. Westminster 
Press, Philadelphia. $7.00. 


This significant book was originally published 
in England in two volumes in 1932 and 1938. 
The main thrust of this massive treatise is to 
demonstrate to the reader the centrality of the 
love of God for man in the structure of the 
Christian faith. He shows that “Agape’’—the 
New Testament word for love has had great dif- 
ficulty in maintaining its central position in 
Christian thought. “Agape” had to fight against 
the Jewish concept of the necessity of earning 
God’s love by the righteousness which is unde 
the law. It also had to combat Greek philosophy 
that refused to believe that God would con- 
descend to men. The highest concept of the 
Greek was “Eros’’ which was man’s passionate 
search and love for God which would lift men 
out of their material lives to absorption in the 
infinite. 


Nygren points out that the early church 
fathers attempted a synthesis. Some held to 
the law—**Nomos.”” Others tried to Christianize 
“Eros.” He maintains that Augustine’s main 
contribution was “Caritas” a full synthesis of 
the two opposite concepts. Nygren says in this 
volume that Luther deserves the credit for re- 
storing ‘“Agape”’ to its full New Testament con- 
notation. 

Nygren emphasizes the fact that God’s love 
is in no sense whatsoever based on anything 
outside itself. “It has its ground in God Him 
self for it is His very essence.” He tells us that 
we must always remember Luther's insight that 
there is nothing in man that makes him worthy 
of fellowship with God and that this fellowship 
rests upon God's grace alone. God's love for 
sinners must never be thought of as meritorious 
from the standpoint of man. In other words, 
God's “Agape” must be remembered in its abso- 
lute sovereignty and groundlessness and Chris- 
cian love must be remembered in its purity free 
from egocentric calculations. 


Another great thought inspired by Luther and 
brought out by Nygren is that Christian love is 
not a natural art nor grown in our human gar- 
den. Christian love is not produced by us but 
is come to us from heaven. It is through faith 
that the Christian receives God’s love and passes 
it on to his neighbor. Christian love is, so to 
speak, the extension of God’s love. Nygren ex- 
presses it thus, “The Christian is not an inde- 
pendent center of power alongside of God. The 
love which he can give is only that which he 
has received from God. Christian love is through 
and through a Divine work. .. . In relation 
to God and His neighbor the Christian can be 
likened to a tube which is by faith opened up- 
wards and by love downwards. All that a Chris- 
tian possesses he has received from God from 
the Divine love; and all that he possesses he 
passes on in love to his neighbor. He has noth- 


OCTOBER 26. 1955 


ing of his own to give, he is merely the tube, 
the channel through which God’s love flows.” 


Outstanding as this volume is it must be read 
with caution. Unless it is, it can lead to positions 
which are not theologically correct. For exam- 
ple Nels Ferre in his book “The Christian Fel- 
lowship” implies that his position on universal- 
ism has been derived from the study of this 
work of Nygren’s. Ferre, Reinhold Niebuhr and 
a number of other present day theologians push 
“Agape” to such an extreme that the Biblical 
doctrine of hell is undermined. 


This book will help Christians to understand 
the Biblical concept of “Agape” and should 
prove stimulating to ministers who are inter- 
ested in this vitalizing subject. We do not em- 
brace all the positions of the Lumdesian school 
of theology. Nevertheless any discerning reader 
will find this volume rewarding. —J.R.R. 





ETERNITY IN THEIR Heart. Lon Woodrum. 
Zondervan. $3.00. 

Here is a mature Christian novel with a 
mighty and meaningful message. Here is tri- 
umph in the midst of trial—victory despite 
vicissitudes. It is a first prize winner in Zon- 
dervan’s $5,000 Christian fiction contest. It is 
a story that will give your heart a lift. To read 
it is an exhilirating experience. 





How SLEEP THE BRAVE! 
Zondervan. $3.00. 


James H. Hunter. 


This is a novel of seventeenth-century Scot- 
land. It is historical fiction at its finest. It 
contains drama and excitement that will have 
you on the edge of your chair. It is a great 
romance that surmounted all difficulties in its 
path. The story is based on the struggle be- 
tween the Scottish Presbyterians and the Eng- 
lish Crown. We see here how God used a giant 
among men to lead His people in the Scottish 
Highlands in a Spirit-inspired rebellion against 
the English King who sought to force his 
tyrannical doctrines upon a free nation. 





YouTH FeL_towsnip Kit, Volume 13. Edited by 
Mary Ellen Schmitz. Westminster Press. $3.00. 


This volume presents topics and all year- 
round program suggestions for young people's 
fellowships, societies and clubs. The subjects 
deal with Christian faith, the Christian witness, 
the Christian outreach, Christian citizenship, 
and Christian fellowship. The last section dis- 
cusses “worship and drama.” Suggestions are 
oftered here for special occasions such as World- 
Wide Communion Day, Reformation Sunday, 
Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter. 


Many of these programs are written from the 
liberal viewpoint, both theologically and 
sociologically. Some of them can be used ad- 
vantageously if employed with discrimination. 


PAGE 19 











Increased Benefits 


AT NO EXTRA COST TO THE INSURED ... 
PASTORS’ and EMPLOYEES’ 


Group Insurance 


Our Presbyterian Church has a very liberal insurance plan for ministers 
and full-time, salaried lay personnel. Many churches in our General As- 
sembly are investigating and buying this needed coverage for these faithful 
people who in many cases receive considerably less income than that of 
church members. Too, budget committees in local churches are finding that 
helping their salaried personnel to obtain this security is an excellent business 
investment. Benefits in the past year have been increased without a rise in 
cost to the insured. 


LOOK AT THESE GENEROUS BENEFITS 





(Effective July 1, 1955) 


Max. Annual 

Amt. Dly. Max. Mater- Max. Max. Cost 

Classification by Life Hosp. Extra nity Surg. Polio per 

Class Occupation Ins. Bnft. Chgs. Bnft. Bnft. Bnft. Person 
I. Ordained Personnel, 
Heads of Agencies 
and/or Institutions 

under age 65 $4,000 $10.00 $200 None $250 $5,000 $85.20 

II. Skilled Lay Personnel 
under age 65 $2,000 $10.00 $200 None $250 $5,000 $52.60 


III. (a) All Unskilled Per- 
sonnel with 6 months 
service; (b) All others 
age 65 and over $1,000 $10.00 $200 None $250 $5,000 $36.30 
OPTION AL—Personnel having de- 
pendents may insure them at an ad- 
ditional annual premium of $55.15 
regardless of number of dependents. 
(Dependents include wife and child- 
ren over 14 days and under 19 years) $10.00 $200 $200 $250 $5,000 











It could happen 
fo your pastor 


Hospitalization or surgery may be neces- 
sary and he could be compensated. 
There's a big difference to everyone in 
receiving one of these checks—and not 


receiving it. 


Write today to 


BOARD OF 
ANNUITIES & RELIEF 


Presbyterian Church, U.S. 


341-C Ponce de Leon Ave., N.E., Atlanta, Ga. 


Photo by H. Armstrong Roberts 














PAGE 20 THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN JOURNAL