March 2014

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March 6: Pearl Buck

6 March, 2014 in March 2014 by archivist | No comments

How Many of You Know . . .

BuckPMention the name of Pearl Buck and countless Americans will immediately think of the award-winning book “The Good Earth.”  And indeed Pearl Buck did write that famous work and many other novels which earned her both a Pulitzer prize as well as a Nobel prize for literature.  But how many Americans, and even church folks, know that she was instrumental in bringing about the original Presbyterian Church of America in 1936?  And yet she was.

Born of missionary parents in China associated with the Southern Presbyterian church in West Virginia, Pearl Buck returned with her husband to China as missionaries under the Board of Foreign Missions of the northern Presbyterian Church.

In 1932, the book “Rethinking Missions” was published. It stated that its aim was to do exactly what the title suggested, namely, to change the purpose of sending foreign missionaries to the world.  Its aim was to seek the truth from the religions to which it went, rather than to present the truth of historic Christianity.  There should be a common search for truth as a result of missionary ministry, was the consensus of this book.  Pearl Buck agreed one hundred per cent with the results of this book.  She believed that every American Christian should read it.

To her, Jesus ceased to be the divine son of God, virgin born, and conceived by the Holy Spirit.  There was no original sin in her belief structure.  All these truths of historic Christianity made the gospel to be a superstition, a magical religion, and should be done away with by the church, and subsequent mission boards.

Machen_ModernismObviously, with beliefs like this, Pearl Buck became the focus of men like J. Gresham Machen, who published a 110 page book on the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A.  That treatment was freely presented to the congregations of the Northern Presbyterian Church.  The result was that Pearl Buck was forced to resign from the China mission, though the Presbyterian Board accepted that resignation with regret.

Eventually, the situation of the China Mission was a powerful basis for forming the Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions in 1933. True Bible-believing Presbyterians needed to have one board which would only send missionaries to foreign lands who believed that Jesus was the only way, truth, and life to God.  Pearl Buck did not believe this biblical truth.

Pearl Buck passed into eternity on March 6, 1973.

For further study:
“Pearl Buck’s Comments upon the death of J. Gresham Machen.”

Words to Live By: The New Testament author,  Jude, writes about those who “creep in unnoticed” into the church, who “deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”  As long as the church is on earth, there will be a need for Christians to “contend for the faith that was once for all delivered unto the saints.” (ESV  – James 3, 4)

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March 5: A Letter from Francis Schaeffer

5 March, 2014 in March 2014 by archivist | No comments

True Empathy

Two close friends, both pastors, both facing the struggle against cancer. One, the president of a small theological seminary, the other a world renown theologian. Here in this letter, preserved at the PCA Historical Center, Dr. Francis Schaeffer writes to comfort and counsel his friend, Dr. Robert G. Rayburn. The letter provides a wonderful insight into Schaeffer’s view of death and dying, and more than that, his view of the nature of the Christian life, as overseen by the providence of God. The letter also provides us a very characteristic example of Schaeffer’s pastoral concern for others. Dr. Schaeffer was called home to glory just three years later, in 1984, while Dr. Rayburn entered into his eternal reward in 1990.

 

Francis Schaeffer letter to Dr. Robert Rayburn, March 1981

Dear Bob:

Thank you for your letter of March 5. It was so good to have the news directly from you. Of course, both you and I know that unless the Lord heals us completely that once we have faced the question of cancer we always must also face the possibility of re-occurrence. With modern medicine, and I am sure prayer very much goes hand in hand with it, there is a possibility of the thing being controlled even if the Lord does not heal us completely… I hope for both of us that we will really “beat the whole thing” by meeting the Lord in the air. However, if that is not the case, maybe we will both die from 63 other things or an automobile accident. Living this way has one advantage and that is we have had brought into sharp focus the reality of what is true for everybody from con­ception onward and that is that we are all mortal in this abnor­mal world.

In my own case, of course, if I could wave a wand and be rid of the lymphoma I would do it. Yet in my own case, in looking back over the whole two-and-a-half years since I have known I have lymphoma, there has been more that has been positive than negative. That is true on many levels and I am not just thinking of some vague concept of understanding people better, though I guess that is true as well. Rather, in the total complex of everything that has happened, I am convinced that there is more positive than negative. I am so glad that though I increasingly am against any form of theological determinism which turns people into a zero and choices into delusions, yet I am also increasingly conscious of the fact that Edith and I have been, as it were, carried along on an escalator for the entirety of our lives. I am left in awe and wonder with all this, and I very much feel the escalator is still in operation, not just in this matter of health, but in the battles that beset us on every side.

I wonder if you have read my article “The Dust of Life” in the current (March) issue of Eternity. I think you would enjoy some of the ideas there. The article was not born out of abstract thinking but asking, as I saw the struggles of the younger Chris­tians, what the real balance of life was so as not to have a plastic smile on our face and yet have an affirmation of life rather than a negation of it….

Thank you for plunking out the letter on the electric portable when it was costly to you. Edith sends her love to LaVerne and to you along with my own,

In the Lamb,

/signed, Francis A. Schaeffer/

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March 4: R. Heber McIlwaine

4 March, 2014 in March 2014 by archivist | No comments

American on the Outside, but Japanese on the Inside

Reginald Heber McIlwaine [1906-1998]Born Reginald Heber McIlwaine on July 7, 1906 of Southern Presbyterian missionary parents in Kobe, Japan. Heber, as he was known to family and friends, was a natural for missionary service.  Coming to a knowledge of Christ as Lord and Savior in his younger years, he learned about Japan and the language of Japan early.  In fact, so accustomed was he to this foreign land that one said of him that he may have been an American on the outside, but he was a Japanese on the inside.  Graduating from Westminster Theological Seminary in the early years of that historic theological school, he first became an assistant to the Rev. Clarence Macartney at  First Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh.  But the missionary call was too strong in his  nature to remain there more than two years.

He was appointed by the Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions to serve in Japan, and did so from 1934 – 1936.  Joining the new Presbyterian Church of America in 1936, and was sent next to Harbin, Manchoukuo.  Choosing to remain with the PCofA in 1937, he became one of the first foreign missionaries appointed by their Committee on Foreign Missions.  In 1938, he was sent to Japan, but the rising war clouds forced him to return back to the States, where he served as a pastor and Army chaplain.  From 1947 to 1950, he ministered to Japanese aborigines in a mountainous area of Taiwan.  Finally, in 1951, he returned “home” to serve full-time as a missionary in Japan, and did so until his retirement in 1976.

After friends had thought he would remain a bachelor the rest of his life, R. Heber McIlwaine surprised everyone and married Eugenia Cochran on March 4, 1947.  It was said of her that she was almost as “Japanese” as he was.  At any rate, they would serve together for twenty-five years in Japan.

Most of their service was at their home in Fukushima, north of Tokyo, Japan.  For those who judge success by numbers, their ministry was not successful.  The average number of worshipers was under twenty.  But many of those converts from paganism to Christianity moved elsewhere for employment or service, taking their Christian commitment with them.  The Reformed Church of Japan was, in the words of John Galbraith, “greatly enriched by” their ministry.

Both were to be translated to heaven in the latter years of the twentieth century.  Certainly it can be said that their works continue to follow them in the faith and life of Japanese Christianity.

The R. Heber McIlwaine Manuscript Collection is preserved at the PCA Historical Center.
See also these related collections at the Historical Center:
• James A. & Pauline S. McAlpine Manuscript Collection
• William A. McIlwaine Manuscript Collection
• John M.L. Young Manuscript Collection
• Japan Missions Library

Words to Live By:  Faithfulness to the gospel is the only rule of success in the kingdom of God.  It is the world which measures success by numbers, by growth, and by economics.  When that formula is brought into the church, not only does God withhold His blessings, but many faithful men and women are marginalized from the service of the Lord Jesus.  Let kingdom work be measured by kingdom standards, that is, those of the Bible.

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March 1: Death of George Wishart

1 March, 2014 in March 2014 by archivist | No comments

One is Sufficient for a Sacrifice

It was at a Scot-Irish day of games in Central Pennsylvania that this author found a booth selling items from “across the pond.” I had gone there to get some Scot items which reflected my ancestry.  But at the first booth, there was displayed a claymore. For our readers who may not be familiar with this term, it is a sharp two-edged sword which was the perfect weapon for close fighting in earlier days.  Even though I thought I was of sufficient strength of arm (after all, I have moved theology books from shelves to shelves all my years!), I couldn’t even hold steady this sword. Then I remembered it was the weapon of choice for John Knox as he cleared the way through hostile crowds for George Wishart, our subject for this post.

wishartGeorgeIt is true that George Wishart was an early Protestant reformer in Scotland, and not a Presbyterian. Yet he was instrumental in preparing the way for John Knox, who was the father of Scotland’s Presbyterians. Wishart was younger than Knox by a full eight years, if the reader takes the early date of the birth of John Knox.  The former was born around 1513 in Pitarrow, Scotland.  Studying at Kings College in Aberdeen, Scotland, Wishart became one of the best Greek scholars in the realm, teaching both adults as well as children in that biblical language. He also began to preach Protestant theology to the citizens of Scotland and England, and soon found it necessary to travel to Switzerland. He would be influenced by the Swiss Reformation instead of the German Reformation. Returning to the British Isles, he became a popular preacher of Reformation truths in Dundee, Scotland. Even when a plague hit the city, he remained steadfast, giving gospel comfort and consolation to sick people everywhere.

By this time, the authorities became aware of his gospel preaching, and death threats started rolling in. That is when John Knox began to carry the claymore for Wishart’s safety. Facing arrest, Knox wanted to accompany him to his eventual trial, but George Wishart wouldn’t let him, saying the words of our title, “return to your bairns (pupils). God bless you. One is sufficient for a sacrifice.” They would not see one another on this earth.

Arrested and charged with eighteen offenses, George Wishart was sentenced to death. His execution was carried out on this day, March 1, 1546, at St. Andrews Castle. It was a brutal death in that not only was he to be burned to death at the stake, but bags of gun powder were placed about his body. Still, he witnessed to the crowds attending the martyrdom with the precious words of Jesus Christ, forgiving even the executioner who was lighting the pile.

On one of the cobblestones outside St. Andrews castle today, can be found the initials GW, indicating the site where George Wishart  was killed for the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Words to Live By: It was said by several Reformation authors that John Knox would not have entered into the gospel ministry had it not been for the influence of the life and death of George Wishart. God has often used His people to disciple others for the eventual service of Christ. If our readers are parents this day, then you are called to be ones who disciple your children for work in the kingdom.  But God may also call you to disciple still others outside the family, in the faith. Think and pray about this challenge. Then go and do it for God’s glory, for the spiritual good of that one whom you disciple in the faith.

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