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February 11: Allan A. MacRae

11 February, 2015 in February 2015 by archivist | No comments

Snapshot of a Social Gathering at Westminster

macrae05February 11, 1902 marks the birthday of Allan Alexander MacRae, whose papers are preserved at the PCA Historical Center in St. Louis. Educated at Occidental College (1923), Princeton Seminary (1927) and the University of Berlin (1929), MacRae returned to the States at the urging of Paul Woolley to serve as one of the founding faculty at Westminster Theological Seminary, where he remained 1929-1937.

Allan remained close to his parents and it is interesting to note among his papers, that he had carefully kept copies of every letter he sent home to his mother and father. And he wrote home nearly every day while away at school and even later in his new career as a professor. Transcribed below is one such letter, which provides an interesting insight into the social life of the early Westminster Seminary faculty.

Philadelphia, Pa., Oct.22, 1933.

Dear Folks,

Another week has passed by, and how it has flown.  It was quite a busy week.  There was the regular school work, there were the first classes of the year in the University and there were two special things.  These latter were the tea at the Allises last Wednesday afternoon and the party at the Wallaces on Friday evening.  Both these events were particularly pleasant.  The Allises gave a tea in honor of the Kuipers.  They invited over a hundred people.  They asked me, and the others of our faculty to stay most of the time from four to six to help entertain the visitors.  It was a very friendly reception.  Everyone was so cordial and harmonious.  Most of those who came knew most of the others.

On Friday evening the Misses Wallace, two maiden ladies who have been friends of the Seminary and have been present at most of our functions right from the start, entertained the faculty of the Seminary at their apartment in one of the suburbs.  They asked Dr.Machen to speak on mountain climbing.  He gave a very interesting talk indeed.  Then Jimmie Blackstone, who was also invited, sang several numbers for us, and one of the Misses Wallace read some poems she had written.  Dr.Kuiper was asked for a few remarks.  After that we had a spelling bee.  Most of those on the side on which I happened to be chosen were spelled down rather soon, and for a long time I was the lone survivor on our side, while the opposing team still had three standing.  These three were Dr. Machen, Paul Woolley and John Murray.  Then I put one ‘m’ too few in the word persimmon, and left the three of them alone.  So their side was victorious in the contest.  After that ice cream was served.  When we all came to leave, some one happened to look at a watch, and we could hardly believe it was actually past midnight, the evening had been so pleasant.  The only people invited who were not members of our faculty, beside Mr. and Mrs. Blackstone, were Mr. and Mrs.Freeman, whom I mentioned to you recently.  They took John Murray and me with them in their car, which was pleasant and also a great convenience
for us.

GriffithsHM1938H.M. Griffiths is having quite an unpleasant experience.  A week ago yesterday he developed a severe case of acute appendicitis, and that afternoon he was operated on.  They think the appendix might have ruptured soon if they had not taken it out.  Early this week some infection set in, so he had a disagreeable week.  I think they feel that that is pretty well over now,  I saw him yesterday.  He was quite uncomfortable, but is new getting along well, I believe.

Yesterday after faculty meeting John Murray and I went out to Germantown together and visited Griffiths.  Then John and I ate together in the neighborhood.  John had to come back to the city, as he was going right out to Oxford, Pa. to spend the week-end with one of our graduates.  I walked across Germantown to the Woolleys’ home.  I had a nice visit with Paul, and then had supper with both of them.  After supper I played a bit with Edward, who is very friendly.  Paul sat over in the corner, and seemed to have a great time, watching me playing hide and seek with Edward.  I took the train home early, leaving just as soon as I had said goodnight to Edward, so as to get a real good night’s sleep myself.

I am enjoying my beginning Hebrew classes again as much as anything I do.  I am presenting the material in a somewhat different order, and am surely enjoying it.  Early in the week my eyes bothered me a bit.  I stopped in at an optician’s and he spent a long time adjusting the glasses and the way they hung on my nose and ears.  They were hurting my nose.  Since that time, they do not hurt my nose at all, and the eyes have been very greatly improved.  Evidently they were not hanging right on my face.  I hope you are both well and happy as I am.  I will close, very lovingly,

[/s/, Allan A. MacRae]

Words to Live By:
Honour thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise; That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. (Eph. 6:2-3, KJV)
Allan MacRae honored his parents first and foremost by himself living an honorable life before the Lord. But even in a small simple thing like frequent communication, he exhibited his care, concern, and respect for his parents. For those who are not so wise, the Lord teaches us to forgive, as we remember our own sins and failings and praise God that in Christ alone our sins are covered. But when we find a good example like Dr. MacRae, it is interesting to watch the rest of his life. Having lived long on the earth, Allan MacRae died in 1997, at the age of 95.

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February 8: Van Horn on WSC Q. 5

8 February, 2015 in February 2015 by archivist | No comments

STUDIES IN THE WESTMINSTER SHORTER CATECHISM
by Rev. Leonard Van Horn.

Q. 5. Are there more gods than one?

A. There is but one only, the living and true God.

Scripture References: Deut. 6:4. Jer. 10:10.

Questions:

1. What proofs can we offer that there is only one true and living God? We can offer proof from Scripture as it says, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord.” (Deut. 6:4). We can offer proof from reason since there can be only one first cause and ultimate end of all things. Scripture is logical when it states as the first verse: “In the beginning God . . .” Many have called this one of the important verses of the Bible.

2. Why not begin our study of God with the Trinity?

We begin with God since this is the method the Scripture uses. The Bible presents first the truth of the one true and living God and then proceeds to unfold the mystery of the Trinity.

3. What does it mean when it says “one only” in this Question?

The teaching here does not deny the fact of the Trinity or the deity of Christ or the Holy Spirit. It rather points out that absolutely none other person or being shares the attributes of the “one only” true God. He cannot be compared to anything else in the entire uni­verse, all of which He alone created and governs.

4. What may we learn from this truth?

We may learn to recognize Him as Almighty and Sovereign. Our at­tention is thereby called to the fact that there is only One Supreme Being, Maker, Designer and Lawgiver of the world and that He is the only One.

5. What do we call the doctrine of one God?

This teaching is called “Monotheism” in opposition to “Polytheism”, the teaching that there are many gods. The pagan world is Poly­theistic. In contrast to this, Paul says, “. . . we know that air idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one.” (I Cor. 8:4b)

6. What is the meaning of the word “living” in this Question?

The word “living” emphasizes that He alone has life in Himself and is therefore the Fountain of life to all His creatures. Dr. William Childs Robinson points out that “He calls Himself the LIVING God. Our Lord Jesus speaks of God as the LIVING Father, Peter con­fesses the Saviour as the Son of the LIVING God, Paul calls the Church the Church of the LIVING God and believers the children of the LIVING God.” He further states that “He has life in and of Himself and He gives life to everything else.”

THE ONE GOD and CHRISTIAN LIVING

Bavinck states in his treatise on “The Being of God”: “The first thing that the Holy Scripture wants to give us, in its use of all those descriptions and names of the Divine Being, is an ineradicable sense of the fact that Jehovah, the God, who has revealed Himself to Israel and in Christ, is the very, the true, and the living God. The idols of the heathen and the idols (panthesistic and polytheistic, deistic and athe­istic) of the philosophers, are the work of men’s hands: they cannot speak nor see, they cannot hear, nor taste nor go . . . People want to make God a dead God so that they may treat Him as they please.”

There should be a definite relationship between our belief in the “one only, the living and true God” and our Christian living. We can not treat our God as the world desires to treat Him. Those of us who have been redeemed by the sovereign grace of the Sovereign God should recognize that our belief in Him implicates us in serious responsibilities.

There is our responsibility for Prayer and Bible Study. This is basic in order for us to be good stewards of our responsibilities. It is fine to have definite beliefs and to be able to recite the Catechism. It is fine to be known as those who are committed to the Standards of our Church, who are Calvinistic to the core. But without diligence in prayer and in the study of God’s Word, the committed one becomes a weak sound for the Saviour. Too many of us are in such a hurry about material things, about duties of the church, that we do not have time for private de­votion. If a person is wrong here he becomes wrong all the way through.

There is our responsibility for God-centered living. The Christian who is dedicated to the Westminster Standards, the Reformed point of view, is a Christian who in his world and life view must stand in direct contrast to the non-Christian in all of his actions, words and thoughts. One of the greatest hindrances to the testimony of the church today is that it is too difficult for an unbeliever to tell the difference between himself and the nominal Presbyterian who has merely professed to believe.

Many other responsibilities could be mentioned. However, if all of us would make a covenant with God, the living God, to fulfill the above two in the months to come, the living God would make use of His peo­ple in a mighty way. The result would be something all churches need. The result would be REVIVAL of religious living!

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February 6: Roy & Bertha Byram

6 February, 2015 in February 2015 by archivist | No comments

The Safest Place in the World Is At the Center of God’s Will.

In the turmoil of those early days of World War 2, Presbyterian missionaries Roy and Bertha Byram, who were at that time serving in present day Manchuria, were, along with Bruce Hunt imprisoned for their faith.

byram“Prison Songs” is the title of a small collection of songs written by Mrs. Bertha S. Byram and Mr. Bruce F. Hunt while in solitary confinement during the days between October 22, 1941, and February 6, 1942, when they and Berth’a husband Dr. Roy M. Byram were imprisoned in Antung and Harbin Manchuria with more than thirty of their Korean Christian friends on charges arising out of their opposition to Japanese State Shinto and a law for the government control of the church.”

Later returned to the States in a prisoner exchange, the Byram’s wrote of their imprisonment:

“Now your missionaries did not have to suffer like Paul at Lystra. In prison our feet were not put into the stocks although we were handcuffed some of the time to others. We were not even beaten, nor did we endure any form of physical torture. We were expelled, however, as was Paul from Antioch in Pisidia. As a matter of fact your missionaries feel very humble indeed because we were not able even to approximate the tribulations that our Korean friends willingly endured. God simply allowed us a look from behind clanging, bolted doors. That was all. We saw what it was like to be looking out from within the bars; what it was like to be accused before magistrates; what it was like to suffer trouble as an evil doer even unto bonds; what it was like to endure hardship as though we were good soldiers of Jesus Christ. And we found out how it felt to lie helpless in prison without the assurance that a free American citizen usually enjoys as a missionary in a foreign land, for after war was declared, as far as we knew no power on earth could deliver us for the duration. So passports and American citizenship did not enter much into the seriousness of our thinking in those days. We realized that we had been on business for the King of kings and that it was up to Him alone if deliverance came.

Words to Live By:
What joy and comfort for the Christian, to know that whatever may befall our physical bodies, that we are safe in our Savior’s arms, our names written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, and that nothing in this life can truly harm us. And so the Christian speaks and acts from the vantage point of a glorious courage, a courage moored steadfast on the death and resurrection of God’s own Son.

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February 5: J. J. Janeway’s Diary

5 February, 2015 in February 2015 by archivist | No comments

J.J. JanewaySabbath, February 5, 1809.

“When conversing on politics, I find that my mind is too apt to become warm when opposition is made to my opinions. Pride is at the bottom ; and it behoves me to guard more effectually againt pride and undue earnestness in political conversation. The Lord succour me with his grace!

” Whenever by occurrences I am prevented from having my hour on Saturday evening for devotion, reflection, and self-examination, I find that my frame on the Sabbath is less comfortable. Last night I did not get my hour, and this morning I felt quite uncomfortable; but having mourned over my coldness, and sought Divine grace, I felt more comfortable. I spent between one and two hours this evening in examination with respect to my growth in grace; and I trust that I have reason to think that I do make some advances in it, though, alas! but too little. I applied for assistance to a chapter in Doddridge’s Rise and Progress of Religion. In the present heat of politics I find it necessary to guard my temper and lips, lest I sin; and I pray God for assistance! I feel that I am a man of like passions with others. The Lord direct my steps, and give me grace! In this day of alarm I would rest in God’s grace, and commit myself and family to his protection and disposal. The Lord give me faith!”

LIFE OF DR. J. J. JANEWAY, p. 153

 

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February 1: Van Horn on WSC Q. 4

1 February, 2015 in February 2015 by archivist | No comments

STUDIES IN THE WESTMINSTER SHORTER CATECHISM
by Rev. Leonard Van Horn.

Q. 4 — What is God?

A. — God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth.

Scripture References: John 4:24; Mal. 3:6; Psa. 147:5; Rev. 19:6; Isa. 57:15; Deut. 32:4; Rom. 2:4; Psa. 117.2.

Questions:

1. Why is this question so fundamental for the soul of man?

It is essential for Hebrews 9:6 states, “He that cometh unto God, must believe that he is.” If man can accept the first words of Scrip­ture, “In the beginning God . . .” he is on the right road, for this is a truth upon which all other truths depend.

2. How can we accept and know this basic truth?

Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, reveals God to us and it is only through Christ that we come to God. The Bible says, “No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.” (John 1:18). “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth and the life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6).

3. In the light of the answer to Question Number Four, with what atti­tude should we approach God?

We should approach Him as the Almighty, Sovereign God. In the front of a particular church, in plain sight of the congregation there was a sign: “Know Whom Before You Stand!” We should always approach Him in our thoughts, words and deeds with the recogni­tion that He is all that the answer to this question proclaims Him to be. ‘

4. What is meant by the statement, “God is a Spirit?”

The meaning is that He is invisible, without body or bodily parts, not like a man or any other creature. (From Minutes of Session of Westminster Assembly).

5. In Theology what term do we use in regard to the adjectives used to describe God?

We call these the attributes of God and separate them into His in­communicable and communicable attributes.

6. Why do we separate them in this way?

We separate them in this way because His incommunicable attri­butes are not found in any way in his creatures. These are His In­finity, eternity and unchangeableness. His communicable attributes, (being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth), are found in some degree in man. Obviously, in man, these attributes are faint, limited and imperfect as compared with God.

“God is a Spirit; and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:24). These words, spoken by Jesus to the woman at the well, are words for today. There is much worship going on today, but “let us examine ourselves” — is our worship true worship? Man was created for fellowship with God and the worship of God oc­cupies a lofty place in attaining unto that fellowship.

How can we worship Him in spirit and in truth? Only when we worship Him with the knowledge of what he is savingly in Christ for the benefit of lost sinners. When there is this realization in the individ­ual soul, it is possible for the person to begin the worship of God accord­ing to His will. It is then that the soul will be able to say with Moses, “Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? who is like thee, glo­rious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?” (Ex. 15:11). It is only when man is saved through personal faith in Jesus Christ that he is able to approach his Maker with the right attitude in worship.

In Presbyterian circles the charge has often been made that the service is too cold, too formal. If such be true, could the reason for it be found in the failure of the congregation to worship in spirit and in truth? Many people feel that worship has to do with ceremonies or visible observances. Indeed, many are inclined to feel that it is difficult to worship unless stained glass windows, divided chancel and beautiful music are all present. We must not forget that the worship of God is spiritual. Calvin stated, “If we manifest a becoming reverence toward him only when we prefer his will to our own, it follows that there is no other legitimate worship of Him but the observance of righteousness, sanctity, and purity.”

Not long ago I was in the replica of the first Presbyterian church established in Claiborne County, Mississippi. A simple log building with a handmade pulpit is all that meets the eye of the worshiper. The thought came to me that after all, real worship has to do with our recognition of the Greatness of the Sovereign God. When we understand who He is, when our lives honor His Sovereignity, when we understand we are sinful creatures redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, it is then that we are more nearly able to worship Him as we should. Arthur W. Pink tells us that our attitude toward the Almighty, Sovereign God should be one of godly fear, implicit obedience, entire resignation and deep thankfulness and joy. These characteristics of a born again person will enable him to worship in spirit and in truth.

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