May 2012

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May 6 : Clarence E. Macartney & the First Commencement at Westminster

6 May, 2012 in May 2012 by archivist | No comments

This Day in Presbyterian History:

An Historic Commencement Address

Talk about history being made!  The first ever commencement address delivered to the  student body of Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania took place on May 6, 1930.  The speaker was the pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Clarence Edward Macartney.  He was a member of the board of this new seminary, besides being known as a conservative in the issues confronting the Presbyterian Church U.S.A.

In his address, after looking at the approaching  state of the church from the standpoint of its adherence to the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, Dr. Macartney focused the attention of the students on the very existence of this new seminary.  Listen to his words:

“The founding of Westminster Seminary, therefore, has a peculiar and definite meaning at this critical day in the history of Christianity.

“In the first place, its establishment is a protest against the action of the church in dissolving the Board of Directors of Princeton Seminary, and practically ejecting them for loyalty to the truth.

“In the second place, the establishment of Westminster Seminary is a warning to the Presbyterian Church against the danger of being completely submerged in the tide of  neo-Christianity which threatens to engulf the whole Protestant church.  This seminary is a watchman on the wall, proclaiming with no uncertain trumpet that an enemy is in our midst.

“In the third place, the establishment of this seminary is a witness to the Bible as the Word of God, a notification to the world that we believe in the Bible, both as to its facts and its doctrines, and are confident that both facts and doctrines are capable of reasoned, thoughtful, and scholarly defense.

“In the  fourth place, this Seminary is founded as a witness to the saving power of the glorious gospel of the blessed God and of our Lord Jesus Christ.   This Seminary shall stand as a token of our earnest conviction that the gospel of Christ is the alone hope of a lost and fallen race.

“In the fifth place, Westminster Seminary is founded as a token of our faith in the rejuvenescence of evangelical Christianity, and that, as the tops of the mountains  were seen after the deluge, so after the deluge and invasion of unbelief in the Protestant church, when the angry waters shall have perished, those sacred heights of mountain tops of Sinai and Calvary shall again be revealed, and the Church shall again bow in gratitude, adoration, and love before the cross of the Eternal Christ.”

After such a reminder of the need for Westminster Seminary to exist, Dr. Macartney then reminded the students that they have been entrusted with the glorious gospel of the blessed God.  It was a sacred trust, he added.  He spoke about the temptation to forsake that trust, when standing alone, for example, but he encouraged them to resist that temptation and proclaim that blessed gospel.

Words to Live By: Whether we speak about a theological institution, a church, or a Christian, all of us have been entrusted with the gospel.  If we won’t defend it, who will?  If we won’t utter it, who will?  If we forsake it, how will it be carried out?   Put in  trust with the Gospel — a solemn and sacred treasure to share with the masses.

To read the full message by Dr. Macartney, click here.

Through the Scriptures: Psalms 76 – 78

Through the Standards: Benefits flowing from justification, adoption, and sanctification

WSC 36 — “What are the benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification?
A.  The benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification, are, assurance of God’s love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost, increase of grace, and perseverance therein to the end.”

Image source : Cover photograph from The Making of a Minister. Great Neck, NY: The Channel Press, 1961.

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May 5 : John Dunbar, Missionary to the Pawnee Indians

5 May, 2012 in May 2012 by davidtmyers | No comments

This Day in Presbyterian History:   

Serving Christ in a Difficult Field

Many Christians don’t realize that Christian Presbyterians made an active effort to evangelize  native Americans during the same years that countless American Christians were going out to the nations of the world.  But that was true, and often with little success from the standpoint of conversions.

John Dunbar was one such Presbyterian missionary.  Born in Palmer, Massachusetts in 1804, he attended Williams College in Massachusetts, graduating in 1832.  Then sensing a call to the ministry, he entered Auburn Theological Seminary in New York, graduating from it in 1834.  He was ordained on May 1, 1834 into the Presbyterian Church.

Five days later, on May 5, 1834, he accompanied the Rev. Samuel Parker, Rev. Samuel Allis on a missionary tour to the far west, stopping in St. Louis for a party of traders who were going to lead them over the Rocky Mountains.  John Dunbar felt called to the Nez Perces Indians, but the absence of these guides changed his mind and calling.  Hearing of a need for Christian missionaries among the Pawnee’s in what is now Nebraska, the latter two traveled to Bellevue, Nebraska to begin a twelve-year mission to the Pawnee Indian tribe.

The Pawnee’s, numbered between eight thousand to ten thousand in their villages, were all located within thirty miles of each other, around the Platte River, in eastern Nebraska.  They were a nomadic people, often spending their time either hunting or raiding.  Rev. Dunbar tried to mingle with them, going on four of their bi-annual buffalo hunts.  While the gospel went out faithfully, there were little results.  In fact, one history account states that there were no conversions at all.  They were friendly to the missionaries in their midst, but their Indian religion and lifestyle was all opposed to the message of grace.  They practiced polygamy.  Often the women were little more than slaves.

Rev. Dunbar went back to Massachusetts to print a 75 page booklet in their language.  He also married Esther Smith in 1837, and both of them  moved back to the Pawnee field where they lived and ministered until 1841.  Eventually this hardened people caused the missionaries to abandon the field, so that they moved to Missouri and then to Kansas.

John and Esther Dunbar went home to glory within a year apart in 1856 and 1857.  They both faithfully ministered in both word and life to this Indian tribe.

Words to Live By:  Success in the Lord’s work is often by the world measured in the number of conversions, but measured by the Lord Himself, it is found in faithfulness to the calling you have received.  And this missionary family were faithful to the calling to spread the good news of eternal life.

For Further Study : The Nebraska State Historical Society houses a small archival collection of the papers of the Rev. John Dunbar. Click here to view the finding aid (index) for that collection.

Also on this day:
The “Convocation of Sessions” was held, May 5-6, 1973, preparatory to planning leading up to the first General Assembly of the new denomination which would initially take the name National Presbyterian Church, and a year later, revise that name to Presbyterian Church in America. Following this “Convocation of Sessions,” the next step was an Advisory Convention, which was held August 7-9, 1973.

Through the Scriptures: Psalm 73 – 75

Through the Standards: The difference between justification and sanctification

WLC 77 — “Wherein do justification and sanctification differ?
A.  Although sanctification be inseparable joined with justification, yet they differ, in that God in justification imputes the righteousness of Christ; in sanctification of His Spirit infuses grace, and enables to the exercise thereof; in the former, sin is pardoned; in the other, it is subdued; the one does equally free all believers from the revenging wrath of God, and that perfectly in this life, that they never fall into condemnation, the other is neither equal in all, nor in this life perfect in any, but growing up to perfection.”

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May 4 : “What Constitutes Schism” by J. Gresham Machen

4 May, 2012 in J. Gresham Machen, May 2012 by archivist | No comments

This Day in Presbyterian History: 

What Constitutes Schism?

In the May 4, 1936 edition of the Presbyterian Guardian (now on-line), Dr. J. Gresham Machen wrote an article on what constituted schism.  The times in which he was writing were perilous times for both Reformed ministers and the members of their churches. Already a Mandate had been passed by the 1934 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A., which threatened suspension of any elder, teaching or ruling, who would support by their presence, purse, and prayers any board outside of the denominational boards. Indeed, young pastors could not be received into churches or presbyteries who refused to support the official boards of the church. In the midst of this, a Presbyterian Constitutional Covenant Union had been set up by the small Presbyterian conservative faction in the church.  One of the principles of that Covenant union plainly contemplated separation from the main-line church if it continued in its apostasy.

Responding to that Covenant Union were those ministers and churches who denounced the sin of schism, plainly inferring that any who contemplated separation would be guilty of the sin of schism.  It was that false charge which Machen proceeded in this article to refute, and refute very strongly.

Consider his words here.  He wrote just eight months before his untimely death, “It is not schism to break away from an apostate church.  It is a schism to remain in an apostate church, since to remain in an apostate church is to separate from the true church of Jesus Christ.”  He then went on to explain that as of May 4, the Mandate of 1934 and 1935 had yet to be declared constitutional.  It was simply an administrative pronouncement up to that time.  If the General Assembly of 1936, to be held in several weeks, approved it, then it would be an action of the church.  If that happened, as we know from the position of hindsight that it did, then all true believers had it as their duty to depart from the denomination because that church had placed the word of man above the Word of God and has dethroned Jesus Christ.

Dr. Machen  was seeking to go to the last measure to keep the church from going down this path of apostasy.  Yet it would be a vain seeking as the May 1936 General Assembly did approve the Mandate of 1934, and the die was cast.  All those ministers, who had rejected the earlier Mandate, and had appealed to the next highest court their suspension from the ministry by their respective presbyteries, had their appeals denied.

To read the full article by Dr. Machen, click here.

Words to Live By:  God alone is Lord of the conscience and has left it free from any doctrines or commandments of men, (a) which are in any respect contrary to the Word of God,or (b) which, in regard to matters of faith and worship are not governed by the Word of God.

Through the Scriptures: Psalm 70 – 72

Through the Standards: Sanctification here is continual warfare

WCF 13:2, 3
“This sanctification is throughout, in the whole man; yet imperfect in this life, there abiding still some remnants of corruption in every part; whence arises a continual and irreconcilable war, the flesh lusting against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh.  In which war, although the remaining corruption, for a time, may much prevail; yet, through the continual supply of strength from the sanctifying Spirit of Christ, the regenerate part does overcome; and so, the saints grow in grace, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”

WLC 78 — “Whence arises the imperfection of sanctification in believers?
A. The imperfection of sanctification in believers arises from the remnants of sin abiding in every part of them, and the perpetual lustings of the flesh against the spirit; whereby they are often foiled with temptations, and fall into many sins, are hindered in all their spiritual services, and their best works are imperfect and defiled in the sight of God.”

Image sources :
1. Page 2 of the 4 May 1936 issue of The Presbyterian Guardian.
2. Photo of Dr. J. Gresham Machen, as found on page 3 of Our Faculty: Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia. Prepared by The Student Committee on Publications, Westminster Students’ Association, 1931.

May 3 : Abner Crump Hopkins, Chaplain [1835-1911]

3 May, 2012 in May 2012 by davidtmyers | No comments

This Day in Presbyterian History: 

A Chaplain of the Stonewall Brigade

It was said that no danger deferred him; no sacrifices were too great for him to make.

The year was 1862. For those living in that section of Virginia now bordered as present day West Virginia, the great civil war was an imminent and daily reality of danger and disruption. It was a time of separation from family, soldiers on long distance marches, and life-threatening casualties from battle. And Stonewall Jackson always had his fair share of them.  Into this scene, Abner Crump Hopkins entered.

Born in 1835 in Powhatan County, Virginia, young Abner was educated at Hampden-Sydney College, graduating in 1855 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. Whatever was used of the Holy Spirit to call him into a relationship with Jesus Christ, we do not know. But we do know that he was born again after his collegiate years.  With a call to be a minister, Abner entered Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, Virginia during the years of 1857-1860. Licensed and ordained by East Hanover and Winchester Presbyteries, he took the congregation of the Presbyterian Church of Martinsburg, Virginia. It was evidently a happy ministry until Federal troops invaded the town.  Leaving behind family and friends, Abner Hopkins was commissioned as a Confederate chaplain by the Second Virginia Infantry Regiment on May 3, 1862.

Right at the very beginning, Chaplain Hopkins made it his determination to share the suffering, marches, and perils of the men in the regiment.  Indeed he was so successful in this determination to be faithful always in his post of duty that the officers and  men of his regiment, and other units, sought him out for spiritual comfort. Opportunities to proclaim the gospel of grace came frequently from nightly prayer meetings at headquarters as well as on the Sabbath, which brought many souls into the kingdom.

On two occasions during the war, the hardships of this life and ministry produced emotional and physical breakdowns which set him apart from his military “congregation.”  But after times of rest and recovery, he always returned to the military  to further minister God’s Word. He was a part of the great “revival” which took place in the Southern army, especially during the latter part of the War.

After the close of the war, he returned to the civilian world as a pastor. His longest pastorate was in the Charleston area of West Virginia, where he was faithful in one congregation for forty-five years.  He was known all over the South, in that he served one year as the moderator of the 1903 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States. He died in 1911.

Further study :
The grave site of the Rev. Abner Crump Hopkins.
His diary is preserved at the Virginia Historical Society Library. The diary contains entries describing participation of the Second Virginia Infantry Regiment in the battles of the Seven Days’, Cedar Mountain, Second Bull Run, Fredericksburg, Bristoe Station, and 1862 Shenandoah Valley Campaigns.

Also on this day :
May 3, 1895 marks the birthday of Cornelius Van Til, born this day in 1895 in the Netherlands. For more on Dr. Van Til, including a photographic retrospective, click here.

Words to Live By:   How important it is to pray now for future difficult situations in your family or work or congregation, so that you will be faithful to the Word of the Lord and His will when the time of those difficult situations arrive.

Through the Scriptures: Psalms 67 – 69

Through the Standards: Sanctification: its subjects, ground, agent, and effect

WCF 13:1
“They, who are once effectually called, and regenerated, having a new heart, and a new spirit created n them, are further sanctified, really and personally, through the virtue of Christ’s death and resurrection, by His Word and Spirit dwelling in them, the dominion of the whole body of sin is destroyed, and the several lusts thereof are more and more weakened and mortified; and they more and more quickened and strengthened in all saving graces, to the practice of true holiness, without which no man will see the Lord.”

WLC 75 — “What is sanctification?
A.  Sanctification is a work of God’s grace, whereby they whom God has, before the foundation of the world, chosen to be holy, are in time, through the powerful operation of his Spirit applying the death and resurrection of Christ unto them, renewed in their whole man after the image of God; having the seeds of repentance unto life, and all other saving graces, put into their hearts, and those graces so stirred up, increased, and strengthened, as that they more and more die unto sin, and rise  unto newness of life.”

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May 2 : The Southern Presbyterian Journal Begins

2 May, 2012 in May 2012 by archivist | No comments

This Day in Presbyterian History :

In the early years of the second World War, the Japanese invasion of China forced missionaries from the Chinese field, including medical missionary L. Nelson Bell. Returning to the States, Bell found his Southern Presbyterian denomination in spiritual decline and slowly falling over into modernism and unbelief. As Dr. Bell settled in the Asheville, N.C. area, he joined with other like-minded men who had been discussing the denomination’s problems and who, since 1936, had been planning to establish a magazine as a voice for sound Biblical principles.

May 2, 1942 marks the first issue of The Southern Presbyterian Journal. Authors for that first issue included Dr. William Childs Robinson, Rev. E. Edwin Paulson, Rev. Robert F. Campbell, General Douglas MacArthur, Rev. Samuel McPheeters Glasgow, Rev. D.S. Gage and Rev. Daniel Iverson.

William Childs Robinson wrote the lead article, in which he set out four “banners” or defining principles of historic Presbyterianism, principles which had been formerly emulated among Southern Presbyterians. These four banners were loyalty to Christ as King, the Bible as the Word of God written, the Westminster Standards as an expression of sound doctrine, and lastly, the banner of the Great Commission. These were the values that the new magazine espoused as it sought to call the denomination back to faithfulness.

For forty-five years, the Journal faithfully proclaimed these values. In 1959, L. Nelson Bell stepped down as editor and was succeeded by Dr. G. Aiken Taylor. At that same time, the word Southern was dropped from the magazine’s name, reflecting Dr. Taylor’s wider focus on the breadth of conservative American Presbyterianism. And within a few more years, The Presbyterian Journal was increasingly involved in the events leading up to the formation of the Presbyterian Church in America, in December of 1973. The Presbyterian Journal continued on for another fourteen years, finally closing with the March 18, 1987 issue.

Click here to download a PDF file of that first issue of The Southern Presbyterian Journal.

Words to Live By: In the opening editorial of that issue, L. Nelson Bell wrote:

The civilization of which we are a part is perched precariously on the edge of an abyss. This is obvious to all, whether in or outside of the Church. The tragedy is that, in part, the Christian Church is to blame.
It is to blame in so far as it has left its God-given task of preaching the Gospel of salvation from sin through the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is to blame in so far as it has turned from faith in, and the preaching of, the Bible as truly and wholly the Word of God, condoning preaching and teaching calculated to question or destroy this precious faith.
It is to blame where it has substituted for the Gospel of redemption a programme of social reform.
It is to blame to the extent to which it has stepped out of its spiritual role, to meddle as the Church, in political and economic matters and affairs of State.
It is to blame where, as has so often been the case, the Gospel message has been diluted and made pleasant to the taste of unregenerate man; denying the fact of, and the heinousness of sin, and the certain doom of the unrepentant sinner.
But despite these failures of the Church, a return to a faithful ministry of the Truth can yet, by the power of the Holy Spirit, provide the spiritual and moral stamina which is essential for world stabilization. To this spiritual awakening and revival THE JOURNAL is dedicated.

Through the Scriptures: Psalms 64 – 66

Through the Standards:  Sanctification: Its nature, extent, and result

WSC 35 — “What is sanctification?
A. Sanctification is the work of God’s free grace, whereby we are renewed, in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness.”

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