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JOB PRUDDEN

WAS the great-grandson of the Rev. Peter Prudden, whose ministry—in Hertfordshire, on the borders of Wales—was attended with uncommon success.  Many good people followed him, when he sailed with the first settlers for New Haven, that they might enjoy his pious and fervent ministrations.  He was of the strictest order of Independents; and when the town of Milford, Connecticut, was settled, the church was “gathered to him” and the six principal planters, as the seven pillars which “Wisdom hewed out, when she builded her house.” (Prov. ix. 1.)  “All those who had desired to be received as free planters had settled in the plantation, with a purpose, resolution, and desire that they might be admitted into church fellowship according to Christ.”  “Church members only should be free burgesses.”

When Mr. Prudden was installed, April 18, 1640, three of the pillars, by the appointment of the church, laid on hands, even as the prophets and teachers at Antioch laid hands on Barnabas and Saul, “separating them to the work whereunto the Holy Ghost called them.”  (Acts xiii. 2.)  He died in 1656, aged fifty-six.  Mather, in his “Magnalia,” describes him as “a zealous preacher, a man of excellent spirits, signally successful in reconciling and preserving peace.”  He left a large landed estate at Edgton, Yorkshire, (England,) still possessed by his descendants.  His second son, John, graduated at Harvard in 1668, and was the minister of Jamaica, Long Island, and of Newark, New Jersey, where he died, at an advanced age, in 1725.

In 1737, difficulties arose in the congregation in relation to the settlement of Mr. Whittlesey as pastor,—a respectable minority regarding his doctrine as Arminian and his preaching as un-edifying.  They urged their objections so strongly, and with such apparent concern and conscientiousness, that the majority of the Council declined to ordain.  The majority of the people, headed by Deputy-Governor Law, insisted on their rights; and it was finally agreed to ordain him, and that the minority should hear him for six months, and, if not satisfied, should settle a colleague according to their liking.  They heard him two years, but were more dissatisfied, and, in 1740, applied to the church, and then to the town, for relief according to the agreement.  But, finding them intractable, they asked for advice of the Association; but they obtained neither advice nor countenance.  They then—according to the statute for the relief of conscientious scruplers—declared “their Sober Dissent from the Standing Order” established in the colony, professing themselves to be Presbyterians according to the church of Scotland; and agreed, November 30, 1741, to set up a separate society, if thirty heads of families would unite for that purpose.  On the following Sabbath, they met for worship at the house of George Clark, Jr.; and, on the last Tuesday in January, they qualified themselves before the county court, according to the Toleration Act.  In this act thirty-nine persons took part.  The Rev. Benajah Case, of Simsbury, was fined and imprisoned for having preached for them on the 17th of the month.  Whittlesey refused his pulpit, on Sabbaths when he did not use it, to the ministers who came to preach for them.

One of them preached from the door-stone to an assembly of a thousand.

Whitefield had preached at Milford,[1] Connecticut, with an unusual success, in October, 1740, and Gilbert Tennent was there in the next spring.

The people made preparations to build a meeting-house in May, 1742; but the town refused to allow them to erect on the Common.  The county court granted them liberty to build, November 9; and, in that month, they raised it on land given by Bartholomew Sears.  The Rev. John Eels, of Canaan, preached the first sermon in it, and the constable was ordered to apprehend him; a like order was issued against the Rev. Elisha Kent, of Newtown; but they both escaped his search.

Mr. Jacob Johnson,[2] a native of Groton, Connecticut, who graduated at Yale in 1740, preached to them, having taken the necessary oaths.  Having made him a call, they applied to some members of New Brunswick Presbytery to receive them under their care, and take Mr. Johnson on trials with a view to ordination.

They constituted themselves a church, and elected ruling elders.  “Accordingly, said members did send to him pieces of trial:  a sermon on Rom. viii. 14, and a Latin exegesis,—‘An regimen ecclesiæ presbyteriale sit Scripturæ et rationi congruum?’ ”  The presbytery met, April 6, 1743, to hear the exercises, and Johnson, with the commissioners, Benjamin Fenn and George Clerk, were present; and, having taken the congregation under their care and proceeded some length in the examination, they paused, and advised that a further attempt be made towards a reconciliation with the First Church.  If this attempt should fail, then they shall be allowed to have supplies; and they sent Treat, of Abingdon, thither, to obtain further information for them.  He spent two Sabbaths in June with them, and was called July 20; but the presbytery, out of regard to the remonstrances of his people, refused to put the call in his hands.  They then requested the presbytery to send them Samuel Finley.  He preached two Sabbaths, August 25 and September 1.  For this offense he was prosecuted, tried, and condemned.  Governor Law ordered him to be transported as a vagrant—disturbing the peace of the community—by the constable, from town to town, out of the colony.  This treatment was considered, by some of the ablest civilians in Connecticut and the city of New York, to be so contrary to the spirit and letter of the British Constitution, that, had complaint been made to the king in council, it would have vacated the colonial charter.

Pomeroy, of Hebron, preached to them occasionally, and was arrested, and carried to Hartford, to answer to the General Assembly for his conduct.

In May, 1744, New Brunswick Presbytery laid before the conjunct presbytery an important affair from the Presbyterian Society of Milford.  It was probably an application for supplies; for the presbytery, in July, sent Sackett, of Bedford, Youngs, of Southold, and Lamb, of Baskingridge, thither, and advised the people to try to get Mr. Graham’s son for their minister.

Job Prudden was a native of Milford.  He graduated at Yale in 1743, and was licensed by New York Presbytery.  He was re-ceived under the care of New Brunswick Presbytery, October 10, 1746, and was called to Milford, May 19, 1747:  two commissioners attended, and he was ordained and installed at that time.  Up to May, 1750, they were taxed for the support of Whittlesey.  They were then released by the General Assembly; but not until ten years after, did the Assembly invest them with the full privileges of an ecclesiastical society.

When Norwalk[3] called William Tennent, Jr., in 1765, to be colleague with Moses Dickinson, he expressed to the presbytery his desire to remain in connection with them.  They accordingly appointed his father, Hait, Prudden, and Kirkpatrick, to install him.  The town, under a misapprehension[4] of the design of the presbytery, resolved to withdraw the call unless Tennent united with the Association and conformed to the Standing Order.  In this state of things Tennent succumbed.

Prudden[5] was a laborious, prudent, and faithful pastor, sound in doctrine, and experiemental in his preaching.  His people were entirely and universally satisfied with his talents, meekness, pru-dence, and piety.  They increased in numbers under his ministry, and lived down the rancorous opposition of misguided men.

He died June 24, 1774, aged fifty-nine, having taken the small-pox while visiting a sick person.  He gave one hundred pounds to “his Society’s” fund, and bequeathed to it all his real and personal estate.

[1] History of Milford.

[2] Johnson graduated at Yale in 1740, and settled at Groton, Connecticut.  He was employed as a missionary among the Indians at Canojoharie; and, for his zeal in ferreting out the evidence of the Connecticut title to the Susquehanna purchase, he was styled by Conrad Weiser, the Pennsylvania agent, “that wicked priest.”  He was called to Westmoreland, now Wilkesbarre, and was the minister there for a number of years.  Was this “New England over the mountains,” to which Abingdon Presbytery sent supplies?

[3] MS. Records of New Brunswick Presbytery.

[4] Dr. Hall’s History of Norwalk.

[5] Trumbull.

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Present at the Founding, Now Standing Before Our Lord.

In years past we have written several times on this date of the founding of the PCA. There were 223 pastors present at the founding of the denomination in 1973, first named the National Presbyterian Church. A year later the young denomination took its permanent name, the Presbyterian Church in America. By the grace of God, the majority of these 223 founding fathers are still with us, and many of them still labor in pulpit ministry. Sadly, some sixty of them have passed away. And we would not overlook the role played by those founding fathers were were ruling elders, though regrettably, their names are not so easily gathered. All these took their stand for the Scriptures, the Reformed faith, and the great Commission. As the Lord enabled them, so we praise Him for how He worked through them. 

Provided here without further comment is a list of those teaching elders who were present at the founding of the PCA, but who have now gone on to their eternal reward. Their life dates and their Presbytery membership at the time of their death are also noted. I think this list is up to date, but if I have missed any names, please forgive the omission and inform me so I can make the correction. Also, if you have a close connection to the family of any of these men, I would love to hear from you.

Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.

Albert, Basil Pierce [1929-2006], Tennessee Valley Presbytery

Allen, Howard Spivey [1921-2000], Covenant

Anderson, Bertil Ivar, [1918-2001], Mississippi Valley

Armfield, Joseph H., Jr. [1909-1989], Central Carolina

Baker, John Lewis [1930-2013], Eastern Carolina

Baldwin, John Persons [1925-1991], Philadelphia

Barnes, Kenneth Lee [1911-2009], Palmetto

Benchoff, W. Henry [1915-1984], Calvary

Bowling, John Knox [1904-1983], Texas

Broomall, Wick [1902-1976], Central Georgia

Clelland, John Paul [1907-1993], Southeast Alabama

Cook, Thomas Allen [1917-2012], Gulfstream

DeRuiter, Peter [1900-1977], Grace

DeYoung, Adrian E. [1914-1977], Evangel

Dunkerley, Donald Austin [1936-1999], Gulf Coast

Elder, M. (Monroe) Timothy [1934-2012], Gulf Coast

Esty, Donald Roy [1923-2001], Southwest

Everett, Joseph Walker, Jr., D.D. [1918-1974], Calvary

Flaxman, Russell George [1920-1994], James River

Fowler, Guy N. [1922-1988], Palmetto

Giddens, William E., Jr. [1915-2000], Evangel

Graham, Donald Carson [1910-2002], Southern Florida

Hamby, Oliver Newton [1914-1995], Evangel

Hill, William E., Jr. [1907-1983], New River

Hobson, Kemp J. [1896-1984], Tennessee Valley

Hoolsema, Thomas [1910-1999], South Texas

Hoyt, Samuel Browne, Jr. [1922-2000], Fellowship

Hulse, Doyle A. [1913-1991], Southern Florida

Jackson, Erskine Lewis [1908-2002], Mississippi Valley

Korn, Robert Charles 1932-2002], Palmetto

Lacey, Thomas Edward [1934-1994], Mississippi Valley

Lyons, James Lloyd [1929-2011], Evangel

Manning, Frederick Easley, Jr. [1927-2012], Tennessee Valley

McCown, Dan H. [1924-1979], Texas

McIlwaine, William A. [1893-1985], (Presbytery not noted)

McNutt, Charles W. [1917-1996], New River

McQuitty, Eric [1930-2009], Louisiana

Miller, Harry Norval, Jr. [1931-2013], Metro Atlanta

Moore, James E. [1906-1989], Covenant

Murphy, Christopher Douglas Fred [1927-2009], Central Carolina

Ostenson, Robert James [1922-2008], Southern Florida

Patterson, Donald B. [1923-1998], Mississippi Valley

Pino, Virgil [1921-2003]. Warrior

Plowden, Charles M., Jr. [1909-1988], Palmetto

Priddy, James Gordon [1923-1994], Fellowship

Rose, William H., Jr. [1921-2000], Covenant

Ross, Jack S. [1934-1990], Central Georgia

Rufus, Billy E. [1934-2004], Western Carolina

Scott, Jack B. [1928-2011], Mississippi Valley

Smith, Frank Edward [1914-1993], Northeast

Stennis, Julian [1923-2002], Warrior

Sulc, Daniel David [1929-2013], Western Carolina

Taylor, G. Aiken [1920-1984], Western Carolinas

Taylor, George Henry, Jr. [1910-1987], Louisiana

Thompson, John R., Sr. [1928-2006], Palmetto

Toms, Russell David [1920-2001], Southwest Florida

Umbreit, A. Dale [1924-1988], Central Georgia

Van Horn, Leonard Thomas [1920-2005], Evangel

West, Vernon N. [1921-2008], Fellowship

Wilson, Charles Leonard [1943-2011], Palmetto

Yeargan, Charles B. [1912-1992], Western Carolina

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The Brief Life of a Denomination You Probably Never Heard Of.

It was on this day, April 1, in 1858, that the United Synod of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America was formally organized. (The United Synod is not to be confused with the United Presbyterian Church of North America, which was also organized in 1858, but that was on May 26th. We’ll come back to them in 56 days from now.) Right now we’re concerned with the United Synod of the Presbyterian Church.

“Who?,” you say.

Well, they were more commonly known as the United Synod of the South.

Still nothing, huh?

To get to the United Synod, and for a bit of background, yet without bogging down in detail, let’s quickly rehearse some of the significant Presbyterian schisms.

First, there was the Old Side-New Side split in what later became the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. (1789). That split ran from 1741 to 1758, at which point the split was mended.

Next, there was the schism in 1810 that created the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Centered primarily in
Tennessee and Kentucky, they left because they came to reject certain key doctrines of Calvinism.

As an aside, we’ll also mention the 1833 split of the Reformed Presbyterian Church into Old Light (RPCNA) and New Light (RPCGS) factions.

Coming back to the PCUSA, there was the big split in 1837 which created the Old School and New School divisions. This split had been over serious matters. The Old School side wanted an end to the Plan of Union (a church-planting arrangement with Congregationalists). But the Old School men particularly wanted to rid the Church of doctrinal errors known as Hopkinsianism or New Haven Theology. Not all New School men held to those views, but many did.

After that split, Old School and New School went their separate ways. [This division was mended in 1869, but that’s another story.]

The Old School wing of the PCUSA split in 1861, a month after the Civil War began. It split north and south, and that’s what created the Southern Presbyterian Church. But to be accurate, this split was not over the issue of slavery, but over something called the Gardiner Spring resolution. The 1861 Old School General Assembly adopted this resolution, which in part required pastors to swear an oath of allegiance to the federal government. Many thought that was an inappropriate thing for a church to do, and obviously the Southern pastors, with the war already underway, decided not to go along with that idea, so they split.

But back to the United Synod, this is where it gets interesting. Particularly because most historians don’t give it much, if any, attention. The United Synod was a split from the New School wing of the PCUSA.

One noted historian, Kenneth J. Foreman, Jr., has argued convincingly that “although slavery was a pervasive issue touching everything in America in the 1830’s, it was not one of the issues on which the 1837-38 Old School Presbyterians divided from the New.” Basically, there were strong proslavery elements and strong abolition elements in both Old School and New School wings of the division.

But as the New School Presbyterians began their separate existence, the issue of slavery became more and more central, just as it did throughout the nation at large. Finally, things came to a head for the New School when its General Assembly met in Cleveland in 1857.

Historian Harold M. Parker, Jr. says “There can be no doubt that the momentous Dred Scott decision of 6 March 1857 played an influential role in the New School Assembly’s action of that year. Clifton E. Olmstead has commented that with the decision ‘moderate evangelists were convinced that the time for charity and patience was over.’ Even the opponents of radicalism found themselves in the camp of the advocates of immediate abolitionism. Such ‘came not to bring peace but a sword with which to amputate the gangrenous member of American Society and purify the nation for its divine mission to the world.’ “

The New School Assembly began on May 21st, but it wasn’t until Friday, May 29th that they began to consider an overture regarding slavery. For four days they wrestled with the matter. Finally, the Assembly managed to adopt a paper which began:

“The General Assembly, in view of the memorials before them and of the present relations of the Church to the subject of Slavery, feel called upon to make the following exposition of principle and duty. The Presbyterian Church in these United States has, from the beginning, maintained an attitude of decided opposition to the institution of Slavery.”

[the paper then began to detail the various examples of that opposition. on pages 401-404. Contact me at archivist {AT} pcahistory [dot] org, if you would like to have the full text of that amended overture].

Having marshalled its evidence, the adopted paper concluded:

“We do not indeed, pronounce a sentence of indiscriminate condemnation upon all our brethren who are unfortunately connected with the system of Slavery. We tenderly sympathize with all those who deplore the evil, and are honestly doing all in their power for the present well-being of their slaves, and for their complete emancipation. We would aid and not embarrass such brethren. And yet, in the language of the General Assembly of 1818, we would “earnestly warn them against unduly extending the plea of necessity; against making it a cover for the love and practice of Slavery, or a pretence for not using efforts that are lawful and practicable to extinguish this evil.”

Clearly the New School Assembly was trying to take a firm stand, yet still they were treating the Southern New Schoolers with “kid gloves.”  How much different was the action of the Reformed Presbyterian Church when it sat down to discuss slavery in 1802 and decided unanimously that slaveholders could not be members in good standing–that unrepentant slaveholders would be excommunicated!

Nonetheless, the Southern New School men saw the writing on the wall and decided to separate. And thus the division in 1857 of the New School Presbyterian Church over the issue of slavery, several years before the start of the Civil War.

atkinsonCMOn April 1, 1858, the United Synod of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. met in Knoxville, Tennessee to formally organize the new denomination. The Rev. C. M. Atkinson, pictured at right, served as moderator for their first meeting.  Still, it was a short-lived denomination, for in 1863 these Southern New Schoolers agreed to merge with the Old School Southerners who had by then established their own separate existence as the Presbyterian Church, U.S. (aka Southern Presbyterian Church). In fact, Harold Parker has noted that “between 1863 and 1874, the Southern Presbyterian Church participated in six successful organic unions with other Presbyterian bodies in the South and border-states.”

That’s quite enough history for now, don’t you think?

Words to Live By:
The nagging question remains: How could Christians in that era, Old School or New School, have supported an evil like slavery? The only thing I’ve really come up with thus far is that we are, all of us–Christians and non-Christians–far more blinded by our culture than we realize. Christians should find a way out of that cultural blindness, in that the Bible gives us a vantage point that rises above all cultures, all philosophies, all times and man-made religions. If we are truly and fully Biblical in our world-view, we should rise above, and stand against, the sins of our times. The nagging question remains, what sins are we blind to today? Or do we think we’re better than our forefathers in the faith?

For Further Study:
Harold M. Parker, Jr. wrote the book on this subject, titled The United Synod of the South: The Southern New School Presbyterian Church. The PCA Historical Center has preserved among its collections an original copy of the Minutes of the first meeting of the United Synod (1858), but I cannot locate a digitized version of these Minutes. There is a digital copy of their 1861 Minutes available, here.

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buswellpresOn February 2, 1977, Dr. James Oliver Buswell Jr. was called to his heavenly home. It can truly be said of him, he had fought a good fight, he had finished his course, and he had kept the Faith.

At the age of 82 he could look back upon a life of dedication and service to his Master, Who had endowed him with many gifts, great wisdom and out¬standing leadership. He has been taken.from our midst, but his labors stand as a testimony of praise to God, Who was pleased to use him in many and varied ministries.

As a seminary student he entered the military service of his country as a Chaplain in the First World War, where he ministered to soldiers even in the thick of battle. He was wounded in the line of duty and was cited in General Orders and received the Purple Heart and Silver Star.

After the war he took up a pastorate in the Perseverance Presbyterian Church, Milwaukee, Wisconsin—1919 to 1922. His next pastorate was in the Grace Reformed Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn, N.Y., from 1922 to 1926.

In the fall of 1925 he delivered a series of evangelistic messages at Wheaton College, Wheaton, 111. Shortly after that Dr. Charles A. Blanchard, the President of Wheaton College, died. Dr. Buswell was called to be the third president of Wheaton and was installed in April of 1926. He served there for 14 years in a most effective manner. During his administration the College grew numerically, its financial position was strengthened, new facilities were added, and it became fully accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Universities. It was during his administration that the Wheaton Graduate School was established. He remained at Wheaton until 1940.

Following this he taught for a short time at Faith Seminary. In January of 1941 he was called to the presidency of the National Bible Institute of New York City, which, under his leadership became Shelton College. The school also grew and developed under his 15 years of able leadership.

In 1956 he was called to be Dean of Covenant Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri, where he served for 14 years until his retirement in 1970. He and his wife moved to The Quarryville Presbyterian Home as guests, but here too he continued his ministry of speaking and writing.

He is known for his writings, especially the two volumes of Systematic Theology of the Christian Religion, which is widely used today.

In 1936 Dr. Buswell, together with Dr. J. Gresham Machen, Dr. Harold S. Laird, and others, took his stand fearlessly for the Word of God in opposition to the forces of modernism in the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. There was a great price to be paid from a human standpoint but, like Paul, he counted not his life dear to himself that he might finish the course God had given him. He, with the others mentioned, became the leaders of a new movement committed uncompromisingly to a loyalty to God and the Scriptures.

He helped form the Presbyterian Church of America in June of 1936, which later changed its name to the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. In the of 1937 he was a leader in the group which became the Bible Presbyterian Church and later, was again a leader in that portion of the BPC which became the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, 1956-1965. In all of this taxing experience in the life of the Church, his leadership was evident and greatly respected.

He served on the Fraternal Relations Committee used to bring about the union of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in North America, General Synod and the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in 1965. This resulted in the formation of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod.

One of the key issues which evidenced departure from the Word of God was that of the Foreign Missions Board of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. Out of this arose the Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions. Dr. Buswell was one of the founders under the leadership of Dr. Machen. In the developing Evangelical Presbyterian Church, the same urgency of missions continued under Dr. Buswell’s leadership and the Board of World Presbyterian Missions was created and continued to serve as the missionary arm of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod. Dr. Buswell served on this board until his death.

Dr. Buswell served on many boards, agencies and committees of the Re¬formed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod. When the denomination was newly established, he had the joy of having a great input to its growth and development.

A great man has fallen, but God’s course continues—“He being dead, yet speaketh.” He has left the challenge to those who continue under the same Head of the Church, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Dr. Buswell was survived by his dear wife, a faithful helpmeet for 59 years, and four children, all active in God’s work: Jane (Mrs. Philip Foxwell), Ruth (Mrs. Edward Noe), Dr. James Oliver Buswell III, and Dr. John Buswell. There are also ten grandchildren and seven great grandchildren as well as a host of friends, both in heaven and in all parts of the world.

As a member of the Philadelphia Presbytery, our Synod, numerous boards and agencies, Dr. Buswell deserves the thanks to God which we all join in giving for this our fellow Christian. We thank God upon every remembrance of him. Our prayers and sincere sympathy are with his dear wife and all the members of his family. Joshua 1:2-3: “Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses.”

Words To Live By:
The challenge is for us to arise and possess that which God has promised us as His people. There remains yet much to be possessed for God’s kingdom.

[The text above, with a few minor edits, was the text of the Memorial for Dr. Buswell published in the Minutes of the 155th General Synod of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod.]

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evangstudentIt was on this day, November 20th, in 1925, that students from across the nation gathered in Grand Rapids for the first annual conference sponsored by the new campus ministry known as the League of Evangelical Students. Seeking to establish an evangelical campus ministry, invitations went out in January of 1925 to a select number of seminaries. Six schools sent delegates to a meeting in April and a constitution was drawn up. Then, wasting no time, the November conference was planned and carried off to great success.

Established under the leadership of Dr. J. Gresham Machen and other prominent evangelical and Reformed scholars, the League began with high promise, but in sixteen short years, it had run its course and disappeared off the stage of campus ministry. Yet the League, despite a short term of ministry, can be said to have accomplished much. A fore-runner of InterVarsity and Reformed University Ministries, the League of Evangelical Students played a significant role in breaking up the fallow ground of campus ministry. 

To understand more about the League and its work, we can do no better than to read the following reports from three of the conference leaders:

The Grand Rapids Conference
by W.A.H. Zoerner

The League of Evangelical Students was given the great impetus, which promises to make it a very real factor in the lives of American students, at its First Annual Conference held in Grand Rapids, Michigan, November 20-24, 1925. At this conference nineteen schools were represented, eleven theological seminaries and eight Bible schools, and these represented student bodies from Texas to Canada and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Advocates of Christian Unity can take comfort in the fact that these schools represented at least eight of the prominent protestant denominations. One of the outstanding facts of the Conference was the splendid spirit of harmony and Christian unity manifested. The true joy of Christian fellowship was an admitted blessing to every delegate.

The Conference was the guest of Calvin Theological Seminary whose generous hospitality and helpful cooperation added greatly to its successful issue.

Preparations for the Conference were made by the Conference Committee appointed at Pittsburgh in April 1925. The chairman was John L. Schaver (Calvin Seminary) and the secretary of the committee Walter Laetsch (Northern Baptist Seminary). Too much credit cannot be given to these men for the Conference preparations, especially Mr. Schaver who gave a great deal of time and energy in handling the details. Mr. Schaver was elected chairman of the Conference and Mr. Laetsch secretary.

The importance of the League in the estimation of prominent conservative Christian leaders is evidenced by the presence at the Conference of such a representative group as the following list discloses. These men came as delegates, or upon invitation, to lend their judgment and to give addresses. Their presence was a proof of the need and place of an evangelical witness among students today. Dr. J. Gresham Machen, Princeton Seminary, Presbyterian U.S.A., spoke on the theme, “The Church’s Historic Fight against Modernism from Within.” Dr. Leander S. Keyser, Hamma Divinity School, Lutheran, gave two addresses on “Christianity and Liberalism,” and “The Origin of Man and Woman.” Rev. Harold Paul Sloan, Haddonfield, N.J., spoke on “What Modernism denies.” Dr. J.E. Kuizenga, Western Theological Seminary, Holland, Mich., Reformed A., spoke on the theme, “The Supernaturalness of Christianity.” Rev. Joseph A. Schofield, Hobart, N.Y., gave a history of the movement. To these may be added the addresses of Dr. Melvin G. Kyle, Xenia Seminary, United Presbyterian, and Prof. S. Volbeda, Calvin Seminary, Christian Reformed, which are reported in other parts of this paper.

The Conference had also as visitors, Philip Mauro, Framingham, Mass., Prof. A.B. Winchester, Evangelical Theological College, Dallas, Tex., and J.E. Krebs, McCormick Seminary, Chicago, Ill.

The keynote of the Conference was unswerving loyalty to the Bible as the only authoritative rule of faith and practice.

The League’s Program
by Ned B. Stonehouse

“Ye shall be my witnesses.” These words are fulfilled by the witness of the individual Christian to his Lord and personal Saviour and by the great corporate witness of the Christian Church to Christ, its Head. Besides the perennial necessity of these forms of witness bearing, in times of doubt and unbelief and attach upon the Holy Scriptures, it becomes the right and obligation of Christians to band themselves together for the purpose of a united testimony to their common Faith.

The League of Evangelical Students is a witness-bearing organization. It is a movement among Christian students to bear witness to the Christian Religion in its Biblical, supernatural, historical interpretation. Such a witness necessarily includes a defense against the widespread attacks of present-day radicalism. That there is the need of a testimony before the world that there are thousands of students in institutions of higher learning who accept fully the fundamentals of the Christian Faith no one will deny.

One of the greatest fields of opportunity for the League is to present the claims of the true gospel ministry to college men. In too many educational institutions there is an idea that the purpose of the Christian ministry is simply the general uplift and improvement of mankind. This is important, but secondary. Over against this view, the League hopes to present the distinct calling of the Christian ministry to openly set forth Christ and Him crucified, the Saviour from sin and death through the atonement wrought by His shed blood.

The conference at Grand Rapids discussed and recommended the following as effectual means of carrying out the League’s purposes:
1. Promotion of the formation of chapters of evangelical students in seminaries, Bible schools, colleges, and universities.
2. Holding of conferences for inspiration, fellowship and the discussion of common problems; annually of the whole League and sectional conferences more frequently.
3. Sending of deputations to present the evangelical point of view and the claims of the gospel ministry.
4. Establishment of a bureau of evangelical leaders who will be available for addresses, especially at colleges.
5. Preparation of suggested reading for students with religious problems.
6. The publication of an official organ. [This was The Evangelical Student]
7. Issue of literature on the factual bases of the gospel.

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p style=”text-align: justify;”>“Why the League?”

by A.A. MacRae

THE greatest need of the world today and of every individual in the world is the religion of Jesus Christ. More important than any social improvement, any economic advancement, any political or moral reform, is the extension of the kingdom of God, through the proclamation of the pure Gospel of Jesus Christ. Never did the world need this more than at the present time. Material conditions were never better, political and social advancements never greater, yet the world is not satisfied. Unrest and discontent abound. The only true satisfaction lies in the religion of Jesus Christ. The most real way to obey the second great commandment, “Thou shalt love they neighbor as thyself,” is through obeying the first commandment, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength.”

Strange as it might seem, in this time of all times when Christians should present a united front before the world, and proclaim their God-given Gospel with power and conviction, foes to that Gospel have arisen within the very confines of the Christian Church itself, and many are seeking to dilute it until it loses all that gives it its distinctive power. No wonder scoffers outside the church are saying that the church is dead, when men inside the church are denying or explaining away the foundation stones of the church’s gospel.

The League of Evangelical Students is a student movement, originated by students, to declare beforethe world that there are in our educational institutions large bodies of students who believe thoroughly in the evangelical Gospel in all its richness. Radicalism and skepticism is noisy. It quickly makes its presence felt. It spreads rapidly, like the leaven described in Holy Scripture. Reading the accounts of student life in many current publications might lead one to believe that most seekers after learning had gone over to the ranks of Modernism and Infidelity. Attending some student conferences might lead one to a similar conclusion. It behooves the great body of students who accept the “Faith of our Fathers” to band together to witness to their conviction, and to record their opposition to the stealthy progress of religious unbelief.

The enemies of evangelical Christianity claim to represent intellectualism and scholarship. But truth is one, and the truths discovered by human research cannot reasonably contradict the truths revealed by the Maker of the Universe. The highest scholarship cannot discover any facts which contradict the plain teachings of the Bible. As Dr. Keyser declared at the Grand Rapids Conference: “I maintain that the finest shcolarship in the owrld, under the proper conditions, will lead just to the top of Mt. Calvary.” In the face of the widespread assertions that modern scholarship has rendered conservative Christianity untenable, the members of the League are witnessing to their conviction that true education is possible only when the facts revealed in God’s word are recognized as authoritative.

It is with this spirit that the League has been organized. It desires to include within its membership all who wish to declare with it their adherence to Biblical, supernatural Christianity. The occasion for its formation is plainly stated in the preamble to its constitution. Section I of Article III gives the qualifications for membership:

Qualifications for membership in the League shall be faith in the Bible as the infallible Word of God, and acceptance of the fundamental truths of the Christian Religion, such as: the Trinity, the Virgin Birth of Christ, His Divine and Human Nature, His Substitutionary Atonement, His Resurrection from the Dead, and His Coming Again.

This statement was purposely made very brief and simple, as the League had no intention of promulgating a new creed. It takes its stand upon historic Christianity, the common heritage of all the Evangelical Churches. It is not a movement toward church unity, nor has it a desire in any way to minimize the distinctive doctrines of the various denominations. But it is a movement of studnets who believe in supernaturalistic Christianity, from all the denominations, joining together for the specific purposes outlined in the Constitution of the League. This is very clearly stated in the next section of the Constitution (Art III, Sec. 2):

The above summary is not intended to be regarded as a complete statement, nor as an authoritative definition of the limits of Christian fellowship, but simply as an indication of the class of persons whom the League welcomes as members.

Mutually exclusive conceptions of the nature of the Christian Religion are current today. Every student who calls himself a Christian can easily determine which of these conceptions he holds. The League is a movement of those who hold one of these conceptions–that which regards the Christian Religion as a supernaturally revealed body of facts, showing how man can receive eternal life, through the great act of God who sent His only-begotten Son to die on Calvary’s cross for the sins of the world.

The above articles were transcribed from The Evangelical Student (Princeton, NJ), Volume I, No. 1 (April 1926), pages 3-4.

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