~~za!aIL-GUARDIAN

AD Open Door

Carl A. Ahlfeldt

(Page 3)

•New Light

From Babylon

Edward J. Young

(Page 5)

•A Pastor and

His Mimeog~aph\

Lewis J. Grotenhliis

(Page 6)

•Vishnu, a God

01 Hinduism

Robert S. Marsden

(Page 10)

•Notes From a Navy

Chaplain's Log

E. Lynne Wade

(Page 13)

J • GRESHAM MACHEN • EDITOR 1936· 1 937

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January'ID

recently heard a proposal that a Buddhistart exhibition be sent to America "in aspirit of repentance before Buddha forhaving done what we have done."

When the new French constitution'comes up for debate and adoption, it willbe decided whether subsidies to RomanCatholic schools, which were given by theVichy government, should be revived..

During 1945 betting on horse races inthe United States totalled $1,3°0,000,000.This exceeded the previous record bytwo hundred million dollars, although thewar had substantially cut the amount ofracing.

The Federal Council reports churchmembers in the United States now total72,492,669, or 52.5 per cent. of thepopulation. This is a numerical increaseof 32.8 per cent. over 1926, while thetotal population has increased 17.9 percent. in the period. Among the largerbodies the greatest gain, 60.8 per cent.,was made by the Southern Baptist Con­vention.

Dr. E. C. Lindeman of the New YorkSchool of Social Work reported on re­turning hom Germany recently that whatis now being preached in the churchesthere is pre-seventeenth century Lutheran­ism. It is the doctrine that the .soul issaved through faith. Dr. Lindeman wasdisappointed.

The American Council is to broadcaston the American Broadcasting Networkin January, February and March of this'year. The speakers on these Saturdaymorning broadcasts will be Dr. Arthur F.Williams, pastor of the First BaptistChurch of New York City, Dr. Merril T.MacPherson, pastor of the Church of theOpen Door, Philadelphia, and Dr. AllanA. MacRae, president of the faculty ofFaith Theological Seminary, Wilmington,Del. The series will be announced underthe title of "Bible Messages."

According to a release of the American _Broadcasting Company, the messages pre­sented under their auspices "lay majorstress upon broad religious truths, ratherthan upon the tenets of any individualdenomination or creed."

The Southern Presbyterian Church,meanwhile, has announced "The Presby-

(See "News," Page 16)

The Rev. W. Harllee Bordeaux beganhis labors as General Secretary of theAmerican Council of Christian Churcheson January first. A graduate of West­minster Seminary and a minister of TheOrthodox Presbyterian Church, Mr. Bor­deaux recently resigned as Dean of theLos Angeles Baptist Theological Semi­nary.

The Board of Religious Education ofthe United Church of Canada has offici­ally endorsed the teaching of religion inthe public schools. This dangerous tend­ency is growing, and if yielded to, isbound to bring Modernism and Roman­ism into the public school classroom.

In order to avoid the objections towomen eIders which are based upon Scrip­ture, it has been proposed by a ministerin the Church of Scotland that women begiven voting rights in the church courtswithout ordaining them as elders.

In an article in a recent issue of TheEvangelicalQuarterly of London, the Rev.Professor Emeritus Samuel M. Zwemerof Princeton Theological Seminary advo­cates that modern Christians seek to haveGod make His will known to them indreams and visions.

The United Church of Christ in Japanhad a meeting of its executive committeerecently. According to Richard T. Baker,in. a copyrighted dispatch to ReligiousNews Service, there was considerable op­position to the war-time policy which theleaders of the church had followed. Agroup of "Young Presbyterians" has peti­tioned for the dissolution of the UnitedChurch. A General Convention whichwill have authority to take up these mat-ters will be held in March. .

In spite of apparent legal concessionsin the direction of greater freedom of reoligion in Spain, the Protestant churchesare still, in many cases, without permis­sion to conduct public worship.

Casualties in the war among U. S.Army chaplains numbered 387, of whichnumber 149 were deaths. There are still6,845 chaplains in the Army.

The Japan Religious Society, made upof Buddhists, Shintoists and Christians, .

THE PRESBYTEBrAN GUARDIAN

Dave You Noticed That .••

It is reported that Emperor HaileSelassie has asked that missionaries of theJesuit order return to Ethiopia.

Gifts of the twenty-four American andCanadian denominations which belong tothe United Stewardship Council in­creased nearly sixteen per cent. in 1945 ascompared with 1944. This includes givingfor both local expenses and benevolences.The total, however, $51°,371,°41, is notmuch larger than in the early 30'S, al­though national income has increasedabout 300 per cent.

The highest per capita giving, $55.79a ,member, was recorded by the Churchof the Nazarene.

A new interdenominational movementfor young people, patterned to some ex­tent on "Youth for Christ," has beenstarted. It is called "Youth Marches forChrist and the Church," and apparentlyprovides modernist competition for theolder fundamentalist movement. It beganwith a series of rallies in Detroit and is toextend rapidly to other cities. Large num­bers attended the Detroit meetings andvarious techniques for holding the interestof youth were tried. The next meetingsare scheduled for Boston from January31st to February 3rd.

T J:IE Protestant co~gre~ations in Ber­lin have been praymg m terms which

indicate true repentance for the sins ofGermany. The Evangelical Church ofGermany is raising about $1,5°0,000from its own members for the relief ofhunger and lack of clothing in Germany.

Thl Presbyterian Gliardian is published semi. monthly from Septlmller to July, Inclusivl, and monthly In AUllllst bY The Presbyterian Guardian Pulllilhing C....,.·tlln, 728 Schaff Building, f 505 Ra.e street. ·Philadelphla. Pa., at the following rates. payable In advance, for either old or neW SUbscribers In any part of tho world, JIIItNe_paid: $2.00 per year: $1.00 for ftve months; five or more copl.. either to separate addresses or In a package to one address. $1.25 each per year: Introduotory rate for ..­_bers onl1. three montha for 250: 10c per alngle copy. Entered as aecond elllSa matter Mareb 4. 1931. at tho Poet OllIe. at PbJIadolphia, Po. •. under tho Act of 14&reb·3. 1171.

Government subsidies for Protestantmission schools in the Belgian Congo, aswell as for Roman Catholic ones, areplanned. Hitherto,. the restriction of sub­sidies to schools conducted by Belgiannationals has resulted in a. Romanistmonoply of these funds.

News from' the Vatican indicates thatMyron C. Taylor, so-called personal repre­sentative of President Truman, will returnto Rome shortly.

The Rev. Amos W. Ligon of Chicagolost five sons in the war. Four werechaplains and the fifth an army choir di­rector. The father and all of the sons wereNegro Baptist ministers.

SERMON ITHE PRESBYTERIAN GUARDIAN1846

,An Open DoorFroID "The Orthodox Preshyterian Pulpit" By the REV. CARL A. AHLFELDT

Pastor of the First Orthodox Presbyterian Chnrch, San Francisco

"And to the angel of the church inPhiladelphia writer These things saith hethat is holy, he that is true, he that haththe key of David, he that openeth, and noman shutteth; and shutteth, and no manopeneth. I know thy works: behold, Ihave set before thee an open door, andno man can shut it; for 'thou hast a littlestrength, and hast kept my word, and hastnot denied my name" (Rev. 3:7-8).

THE letter to the Church at Phila­delphia is an attractive one. In the

book of Revelation there are sevenletters written to seven representativechurches. Most of these have a goodlyportion of rebuke. Only Smyrna andPhiladelphia escape rebuke. There isno doubt that in many ways we, bothas individuals and as a church, needrebuke. Yet I am convinced that wemay take for ourselves the encourage­ment and challenge of our text. .

All of us, especially since the closeof the war, are looking to the daysahead. The words which come to ourminds are opportunity, challenge,progress, growth. We are beckoned on-or at least should be-to greaterand more wonderful things in Christ'skingdom than we have ever known be­fore. If any of us have not been think­ing in such terms, I pray that Godthrough His Word may stir us to do so.

Some of us will never forget themessage of the Rev. Bruce F. Huntas he applied our text to their experi­ence in Manchuria. It held true despitethe greatest of odds. It will likewisehold true for us over here.

The Sovereign Disposerof Opportunity

It is interesting to note that in eachof the letters to the churches there isa description of Christ which is in ac­cord with the contents of the letter.To the Church at Ephesus, for in­stance, Christ is set forth as "he thatholdeth the seven stars in his righthand, who walketh in the midst ofthe seven golden candlesticks." Thischurch is then told to repent or itscandlestick will be removed. To theChurch in Smyrna, Christ is presentedas "the first and the last, which wasdead and is alive." This church is thenencouraged to be faithful unto death.So here in the letter to Philadelphia

Introducing Mr. Ahlfeldt •••

THE Rev. Carl A. AhIfeldt wasborn in Brooklyn, N. Y., in 1911­

In 1923 his family moved to Los An­geles. He attended the University ofCalifornia at Los Angeles, graduatingin 1933. By the end of his junior yearin col1ege, he was certain that Godhad cal1ed him to enter the gospelministry. Consequently in the faU of1933 he entered Westminster Semi­nary, graduating in 1936.

He was ordained by the first gen­.eral assembly of The Orthodox Pres­byterian Church, and served underthe Committee on Home Missions toestablish a work in Indianapolis. TheCovenant Orthodox PresbyterianChurch was formed there, and Mr.AhIfeldt was its pastor for the nextseven years. Since 1943 he has servedthe First Orthodox PresbyterianChurch of San Francisco.

the opportunity given to the churchis stressed, and Christ is described asthe sovereign Disposer of that oppor­tunity. "These things saith he that isholy, he that is true, he that hath thekey of David, he that openeth, and noman shutteth; and shutteth, and noman openeth."

He is described as the holy and trueGod. God in the Old Testament wasknown as the Holy One ofIsrael. Nonebut Christ is absolutely holy. Thusthis Christ is the same as the God ofthe Old Testament.' He is called, "Hethat is true," to designate Him as thevery God, distinguished from falsegods. Thus Paul wrote to the Thessa­lonians: "Ye turned to God from idolsto serve the living and true God"(I Thess, 1:9)' This already gives usa very lofty picture of the One whosupplies the promise of our text.

He is further described as "He thathath the key of David, he that open­eth, and no man shutteth; and shut­teth and no man openeth.' There isa very evident reference here to Isaiah22:22. In the days of Hezekiah it wassaid of the king's steward Eliakim:"And the key of the house of Davidwill I lay upon his shoulder; so heshall open, and none shall shut; andhe shall shut, and none shall open."Evidently Eliakim was a type of theMessiah, a type whose fulfillment wesee set forth in our text. This Christhas sovereign control 'over affairs inthe kingdom of God. He it is whoadmits people to that kingdom andHe it is who excludes them.

It is "He that openeth, and no man .shutteth.' He opens the door of oppor- .tunity to His churches, He opens thedoor of utterance to His ministers, Heopens the door of entrance to thesinner's heart. He knocks at that doorof the heart, He woos the sinner byHis Spirit so that he willingly opensit. "And shutteth, and no man open­eth.' Christ shuts the door of oppor­tunity when it is His sovereign will.He, shuts up obstinate sinners to thehardness of their hearts. He shuts thedoor of heaven against those who haverejected Him and His sacrifice for sins.

Why is there this lofty picture ofChrist as the sovereign'disposer of op­portunity? It is to show us that the

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JaRllary 10

The Challenge to EnterShall we not then enter the open

door? It must be entered in faith, Re­member that it is opened by our Godand no man can shut it. This is truedespite whatever obstacles there mayseem to be. Take courage from thewords of Paul: "For a great door andeffectual is opened unto me, and [not"but"] there are many adversaries"(I Cor. 16:9)' We are in such achurch as is promised an open door.Let us then enter in faith.

We must enter at once. True, "He. .. openeth, and no man shutteth."That encourages us. But do not forgetthat Christ, the Keeper of the door, isalso described as "he that ... shutteth,and no man openeth." Where thedoor is not entered, He may well shutit. The children of Israel learned thisat Kadesh Barnea. The door of en­trance to Canaan was opened, but inobstinate unbelief they refused to en­ter. Afterward some of them sought toenter, but it was too late. The doorwas shut, and they were smitten. bythe Amalekites and Canaanites. Anelder in the Presbyterian Church inthe U.S.A. once told me that he feltthat he and his congregation were likeIsrael at Kadesh Barnea-tlIat, if theydid not step out by faith then, theywould lose their opportunity. Sad to .say, both he and the majority of thecongregation lost out. We must ridethe crest of the wave, or we may beleft floundering in the breakers.

The great door opened before usmust be entered by prayer. "And whois sufficient for these things?" Themagnitude of the opportunity, the tre­mendous challenge, should drive us toour knees. We need God's grace tomatch the opportunity which He setsbefore us. Some may say that we inThe Orthodox Presbyterian Churchhave cut ourselves off from great fieldsof service. But quite to the contrary,we, far beyond most churches, have agreat and effectual door opened untous. May God give us grace to enter ittoday!

who need the gospel. It is ours to giveit to them. Rescue missions in everycity need a sound witness. Almost anyof our churches could take one servicea month at such a mission. Every oneof us has loved ones, friends, andneighbors who need Christ. An opendoor! And through our home andforeign missionaries we may reachthousands more.

A New AddressAT THE request of the Rev.

Egbert W. Andrews, wepresent his new address:

c/o China Inland Mission. 1531 Sinza Road

Shanghai, ChinaThis address is a forwarding

address which is to be useduntil Mr. Andrews establishes apermanent one. He is at pres­ent surveying various fieldswith a view to undertaking ac­tive work again as a missionaryof The Orthodox PresbyterianChureh.

when it is unpopular to raise our voice.His name is more often denied bysilence than by what we say.

The Open DoorThere has been some dispute as to

what is meant by the open door. Theevidence seems quite definite, how­ever, that it was a door of missionaryopportunity, a door of service. Theninth verse, especially in the AmericanStandard Version, makes that plain:"Behold, I give of the synagogue ofSatan, of them that say they are Jews,and they are not, but do lie; behold,I will make them to come and worshipbefore thy feet, and to know that Ihave loved thee." This promise meantthat of the unbelieving Jews in Phila­delphia, of those who seemed hopeless,Christ would give the church true con­verts. There would.be glorious successin soul-winning.

For the faithful church today alsothere will be wonderful opportunities.Christ has set before us an open door.In every community there are scores,even hundreds, of children who needour Sunday school,' our Bible andCatechism classes. Through these chil­dren homes are opened to the ministerand Christian workers. In San Fran­cisco we had the joy of seeing onemother wondrously'saved through herdaughter attending the Daily Vaca­tion Bible School. A year and a halfhas passed and there is, more thanever, evidence of saving grace in thatmother's life. There are also youngpeople without Christ on every hand.We must reach them. Their dire needis our opportunity. In some cities thereare even yet throngs of service men

THE PRESBYTERIAN GUARDIAN..matter is in His hands. It is not a casemerely of circumstances. It dependson His sovereign will. It is well for usto remember this as we think of whatopportunities lie before us as Chris­tians, and as a church.

The Church of the PromiseThere were certain qualities of the

Church at Philadelphia which werepleasing to God. Therefore, the doorof opportunity was given as a reward."I know thy works: behold, I have setbefore thee an open door, and no mancan shut it, for thou hast a littlestrength, and hast kept my word, andhast not denied my name." "I haveset before thee an open door." Theexpression used means literally: "Ihave given before thee an open door."It was a reward for faithfulness.

The church was of small significancefrom man's viewpoint. "Thou hast alittle strength." This is a great comfortto us in The Orthodox PresbyterianChurch. Great things can be donethrough insignificant means. "Godhath chosen the foolish things of theworld to confound the wise; and Godhath chosen the weak things of theworld to confound the things whichare mighty; and base things of theworld, and things which are despised,hath God chosen, yea, and thingswhich are not, to bring to noughtthings that are: That no flesh shouldgloryin his presence" (I Cor. 1 :27-29)'Some of us in Westminster's class of'36 well remember Dr. Machen's mes­sage to us at our graduation: "Fearnot, little flock; for it is your Father'sgood pleasure to give you the king­dom" (Luke 12:32).

The Church at Philadelphia hadbeen faithful to the Word of God:"Thou ..' . hast kept my word." Onlybefore such a church does Christ placea truly open door. Then surely our be­loved Orthodox Presbyterian Churchis one of opportunity. How hemmedin are the churches which are notfaithful to the Word of Godl Someof our brethren would make ecclesi­astical compromises because they hopethus for greater opportunities to spreadthe gospel. But be not deceived. Realopportunity is given by the sovereignChrist to the church that keeps HisWord. .

The Church at Philadelphia alsohad not been ashamed to own herLord. "Thou ... hast not denied myname." May we ever be fearless andbold in our witness for Christ even

THE PRESBYTERIAN" GUARDIAN

The Honest Martyr(A Letter to the Editors)

DEAR EDITOR: Perhaps there is nosuch thing as a disnonest martyr.

"1ne hypocnte and the quack playtheir own game, and when caught init receive their due reward. Then posi­tion is so loathsome that in the pub­lic mind it usually provokes pity ratherthan censure. The grinning irony oftheir predicament is appreciated ade­quately only by Satan himself who .alone can enjoy fully the ugly humorof their fix.

Yet despite the peril of its perver­sion,the role of the reformer is a pop­ular one and many there be wnowould play it. This is" understandaole.The role is highly individualistic, andso serves the hungry ego. Its lines areeasily learned for they have the life andcarry of criticism. And it undoubtedlytakes with the people. The pulpiteerwho provides his audiences WIth ring­side seats while before them he battles,WIth apparent courage, for decencyand reform, is entertaining. And some­times there is the hot glare of publicitywhich seemingly raises the reformer'sstature among men, and gives his on­lookers, even those at the remotestedge of sympathetic interest, the feel­ing that they are in on something big­ger than ordinary life. The crusadergets his crowd.

We do not mean to imply a neces­sary insincerity. All may be done withcomplete sincerity and, with ferventzeal, even through the tragic finale ofmartyrdom itself. But we assert thatsincerity is not the same as honesty. Aman may be utterly sincere and still benot basically honest. Sincerity playsthe edges, honesty is at the center.The motion of" sincerity is outward,the motion of honesty is inward. Sin­cerity easily embarks upon a tangent,honesty tends to hold the circle per­fect. A man can be so busy being sin­cere that he has no time to considerwhether he is being honest. Sincerityis the second table of the law, honestyis the first. Common sense suppliesthe phrase "first things" first:' Andanother voice adds: "to thine own selfbe true:' That is it. The honest mar­tyr is honest with himself. Faith andaction in him are one in consistent andharmonious integrity. All the sincerityin the world will not save him frombeing something of a fool if this utterhonesty is not in him. But if it is in

bered, wrote their language upon claytablets, and used a wedge-shapedstylus. Since the characters consist ofsmall wedge-shaped lines, the writingis called cuneiform). One scholar hasoffered the suggestion that the cham­bers in which these tablets were foundmay have been the very cells in whichJehoiakin and his men were impris­oned.

According to Driver, these tabletsdate' from the tenth to the thirty-fifthyear of Nebuchadnezzar (i.e., c. 594­56c) B.C.). They deal for the mostpart with consignments of goods suchas dates, barley and oil and indicatehow these deliveries were made. Fourof the tablets actually mention Jehoi­achin by name and speak of deliveriesmade to him.

For example, one tablet reads asfollows: "One-half PI [a liquid meas­ure of the Babylonians], [of oil] forJehoiachin son of the "King [i.e.,crown-prince] of Judah; two and one­half SILA [a dry measure] [of barley]of the five sons of the King of Judah,by the hand of Qana'a[ma]." It is in­teresting to meet. the name of theJudean king upon this tablet. In theBible Jehoiachin is sometimes calledConiah, but his captives called himYa-ku-u-ki-nu,

Driver also calls attention to thefact that these tablets show that therewere many foreign prisoners in Baby­lon at that time, and their occupationis also given. We read of a Jewishgardener, carpenters, sailors, singers, asurveyor and even of a keeper of apes.The Bible says that Nebuchadnezzarcarried away"... all the craftsmen andthe smiths; none remained save thepoorest sort of the people of the land"(II Kings 24:14b). This verse also isconfirmed by these discoveries. Profes­sor Driver is deserving of the gratitudeof the English-speaking world forbringing this information to its atten­tion. Our hearts must also be raisedin adoration to the Author of Scrip­ture, as we behold another evidence ofthe trustworthiness of God's holy andinspired Word.

1946

By the REV. EDWARD J. YOUNG, Ph.D.,

Assistant Professor of Old Testament in Westminster Theologieal Seminary

THE spade of the excavator is al­most daily increasing our knowl- .

edge of that ancient world in whichBiblical history occurred. In 1929 thenow famous Ras Shamra tablets werefound in Syria, and this discovery hasproved to be of inestimable value inthe understanding of certain parts ofthe Bible. In 1935 there came to lightthe Lachish Letters, which were writ­ten just before the downfall of Jeru­salem.

In a recent issue of The ExpositoryTimes (September, 1945) ProfessorG. R. Driver informs the English­speaking world of a remarkable con- .firmation of some Biblical statementsconcerning the deportation of Jehoia­kin, King of Judah.

Jehoiakin, the son of [ehoiakim,ascended the throne of Judah, it willbe remembered, when eighteen yearsof age (597' B.C.). Although hisreign lasted only three months andten days, it is said that he did thatwhich was evil in the sight of theLord. In the eighth year of Nebuchad­nezzar's reign, he sent generals to be­seige Jerusalem, and "... Jehoiachinthe king of Judah went out to the kingof Babylon, he, and his mother, andhis servants, and his princes, and hisofficers: and the king of Babylon tookhim in the eighth year of his [i.e.,Nebuchadnezzar's] reign" (II Kings24:12 ). Furthermore, the skilful arti­sans and craftsmen were also takencaptive.

In Babylon, Jehoiachin remained acaptive for thirty-seven years until anew king, Evil-Merodach, ascendedthe throne. He released Jehoiachinfrom prison and gave him a dailyallowance for the remainder of his life.

During the excavations of Babylon,"the archeeologist Robert Koldewey un­covered in Nebuchadnezzar's southernfort a vaulted chamber, in which was apassagewith seven rooms on each side,and about this section was a narrowcorridor with other chambers. In oneof the rooms, quite a number of cunei­form tablets were discovered. (The an­cient Babylonians, it will be remem-

New Light"From Babylon

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ITHE ope I

we go to work making our own. It isdecided to use a good Bible story bookfor the basis, givmg one to each childas a text book. Then we get busy onmimeographed work-books, books con­taining questions, memory work, andpictures to color for each lesson.Finally they are complete, and thoughwe are not wholly satisfied, we do feeljoy in a work done, and are thankfulfor the mimeograph. And the end ofeach quarter sees us busy again, print­ing examinations.

You all remember December 7,194'1. Boys from the church soonbegan to enter the service. Contactought to be kept, with them. Theyneeded guidance and spiritual truthmore than ever. They needed to knowand feel that the church was truly in­terested in them. And what of theother sons and daughters in our com­munity, many of them with no churchconnections and, more alarming still,with no knowledge or acceptance ofthe gospel? Something should bedone. But what? And so out comesthe mimeograph, and each month itturns out a little paper called, fromthe name of the township, HarmonyEchoes. I t is filled with all the localnews, news of the other local boys,and a gospel message of salvation.Each month it goes out, and incom­ing mail tells us it is not in vain. Onceagain we are thankful for the mimeo­graph.

And now the war is over. The boysare slowly returning home. It is a wel­come relief not to have to publish theEchoes, which usually ran to six pages,each eight-and-a-half by fourteen!But the excellent results turn our at­tention to the possibility of something

(See "Grotenhuis," Page 15)

tion in his soul is that of his Lotd:"Nevertheless, when the Son of Mancometh, shall he find the faith on the:earth?" And the paradoxical judgmentof history is that the kingdom takesroot in the eternal resting place of thehonest martyr. What do you think?

Yours truly,AUGUSTINUS AMERICANUS.

By the REV. LEWIS J. GROTENHl1ISPastor of Calvary Community Church, Phillipsburg, N. J.

is more important than life, and sohe struggles to become one with it.His eye is not upon what he is accom­plishing, but upon what is being ac­complished within himself. He hasnot taken himself so seriously, how­ever, that he has forgotten to bedeadly serious with the faith that hasmade him. The most searching ques-

On the front, the morning and eve­ning order of worship; on the back, afew announcements. In the middle­nothing. And the whole was not tooattractive. With a little more effortsomething much better and more in­teresting could have been produced.Each week our mimeograph turns outa church bulletin. The back is suffi­cient for the order of worship andannouncements. The cover contains'the name of our church and a poem orshort article. The inside is completelyfilled with some good illustrations ofsaving truth. Thus is combined intoone, a church bulletin, an advertise­ment of the local church, and a smalltract; and because it comes from thelocal church the people use it farmore freely in distribution than theywould an ordinary tract.

The entire community, however, isnot reached by our bulletin, and soseveral times a year the mimeographbegins to spin, and out comes anEaster or Christmas letter of invita­tion, with a gospel message added.Or there are special occasions, andagain we get busy and flood the neigh­borhood with information, invitation,and another gospel message. At othertimes there is no special day or event,just a letter and a short mimeo­graphed gospel message. Thus we keepour church constantly before the en­tire community. For these events wehave also printed, at times, specialbulletins of several pages.

There is need also within thechurch. Our Sunday school material,particularly for the Junior Depart­ment, is not what we feel that itshould be. We shop around, but noth­ing seems to meet our particular need.So out comes the mimeograph, and

THE PRESBYTERIAN GUARDIAN8

What a Pastor ~an DoWith a MilDeograph

him, he plays not only the saint butalso the man.

The true Christian reformer, then,is one whose deepest concern is notwith the successful progress of his per­sonally sponsored enterprises withinthe kingdom, but rather is in his ownelevation of faith and in his strivingfor unerring faithfulness. For the faith

My INTRODUCTION to the. mimeograph came shortly after

I began my active labors as a pastor.Knocking at my door one morning, avery pleasant and smooth-talking gen­tleman soon sold me on the idea ofthe mimeograph. Best of his proposi­tions, I had nothing to do but givehim my consent to use my name inselling a few ads. This given, I wasassured that a complete mimeograph­ing unit,plus 5000 printed bulletins,would be mine. Delivery was soonmade, and a demonstration given. Butonce I was alone with the machine,trouble developed. Then-after inves­tigating-I found that I had reallybeen "taken in." The machine wasan old one discarded by the factory fora new model, and sold in quantity lotsat very reduced prices. I could havepurchased for less than half of whatthe salesman received, the same equip­ment, all new, from some reputabledealer. Here was a man who truly hadone sweet racket!

Though I was "gypped" on the ma­chine, the profit on the idea has beenincalculable. Ever since, I have usedthat mimeograph freely, and thoughoccasionally-when something goeswrong and my hands are full of ink,or the baby finds the uncorked bottle'-I have silently vowed to use it nomore, still I continue to turn thehandle and production goes on at anever increasing rate.

Personally I have often marveled atthe waste on church bulletins. I didwhen I first entered the ministry, andstill do. Only recently I picked up aSunday morning church bulletin andsaid to myself, "How utterly waste­ful." It was an eight-and-a-half byeleven sheet of paper, folded in half.

circles is this to be observed, but alsothroughout the commercial, learnedand ecclesiastical worlds. Mass' pres­sure is the recognized lever of theGay' to produce desired ends. The needthat a man has, as a creature of God,to make his own individual decisions,to live and breathe as a free, respon­sible agent. is forgotten.

In particular, would it grieve Dr.Machen to see the continued use ofthe "least common denominator"basis for: church union in currentnegotiations. Union, is not lookedupon as a means of enriching and de­veloping .the teaching and life of thechurch. Rather it is a method forbringing pressure to bear by large andpowerful engines. It is of little mo­ment to the negotiators whether truthis lost in the process of union. Thesize of the machinery created iscounted upon to sell the product by

. mere force. Its quality is a matter ofsmall consequence.

It would be an especial cause forconcern to Dr. Machen to note thatthe language and terminology of theWord of God was returning to thelecture halls and to the pulpits ofChristendom emasculated of its realsignificance and content. "The NewModernism," as Dr. Van Til's forth­coming volume entitles it, speaks thewords of the Bible, but it is far fromits meaning. Nevertheless, the people,sometimes even those people whocount themselves wise, are deceived.Nee-orthodoxy is but a false ortho­doxy.

Especially would Dr. Machen besaddened by the failure of The Ortho­dox Presbyterian Church and, indeed,of the other Presbyterian churches ofthe land to carry the pure gospel sovigorously to every corner of the landthat men would have no interest inwatering down the content of thefaith and attempting to color it withadditions from non-scriptural sources.He would hope that the claims oftruth would weigh more heavily inthe balances of every man's mind thanthe claims of efficiency, that the needsof lost men and the love of God forthe world would so inspire. the serv­ants of Christ that they would layaside hindrances in order to run thestraight race and to "press toward themark for the prize of the high callingof God in Christ Jesus."

There lies before the Christianchurch, and before every servant ofGod, in this opening month of the

the twentieth. The conclusions andideals of Harnack and Herrmann arenearly forgotten in Europe and theyare rapidly passing here. Dr. Machenknew those conclusions at first handand he aided in their defeat.

He would be happy to know thatthere are men, exceptions thoughthey be, who have heard the call tothe gospel ministry while in the armedforces and who are now entering upontheir course of training for the full­time service of God. He himself didnot decide hastily upon the callingof the ministry, and he would be sym­pathetic with those who have found,in the heat of battle, the task to whichGod has called them.

He would be glad to know of thesigns of penitence in the land whereLuther was once honored and whereagain the preaching of the cross isfreely heard, for Dr. Machen wasonce a student in that land, and hewas happy when men turned 'fromdarkness to light.

Here at home, it would gladden theheart of him, whom we count it aprivilege to follow as editors, to notethat in certain educational circles inthis country there are signs of a re­birth of the recognition of the unityof truth, of the fact that knowledgefinds its source in God. What elseis the true ultimate meaning of thefundamental changes which are be­ginning to' take place in the curriculaof our leading universities?' To besure, that meaning is but ill-recog­nized as yet. but to those who studythe Word, its significance is clear.

Lastly, to close all too soon ourcatalogue of grounds for rejoicing. Dr.Machen would be happy to see thatThe Orthodox, Presbyterian Churchhas made true progress in what willsoon be the ten years of her existenceand that in some of the other Presby­terian and Reformed churches of thiscountry, there are those who are hold­ing aloft the Word of Life, amongthem graduates of Westminster Semi­nary.

There are, however, causes for con­cern, probably even more numerousthan the grounds for satisfaction. Dr.Machen would be dismayed at thecontinued prevalence of tyranny oversuch a large part of the earth's sur­face and over such a tremendous pro­portion of her inhabitants. He wouldbe disturbed by the signs of increas-

'ing centralization and standardizationhere at home. Not only in government

THE .RESBYTERIAN GUARDIAN1846

EDITORSNed B. Stonehouse

Paw Woolley

1505 Race Street, Philadelphia 2, Pa,

I EDITORIAL

After Nine Years

ADVISORY COUNCILRobert L. AtwellJohn P. ClellandLeslie A. Dunn

John Patton Galbraith'Edward L. Kellogg

~~WdmL..G IJA R D I A N

I T IS hardly possible for those whoknew and loved Dr. J. Gresham

Machen to allow this season of theyear to pass without remembering thefact that it was on New Year's Day,1937, that God took him from .thesociety of earth and those who lovedhim here to the perfect society inheaven where the redeemed of allages and all peoples are gathered be­fore the Lamb whom they worshipand serve day and night.

During the nine years since thedeath of Dr. Machen, the world hasseen events rushing onward in thatdizzy pace to which we become in­creasingly accustomed. Were Dr.Machen here with us, he would bebut halfway through the sixty-fifthyear of his life, and his judgment con­cerning the events of the passing yearswould be ripe and mature. For Dr.

.Machen was a man of most precisebalance of judgment, and a man givento careful consideration of the prin­ciples involved in action, throughoutthose years in which we knew himhere upon earth.

It would, perhaps, then be salutaryand profitable to consider what hisposition would be with reference' tosome of the more weighty issueswhich have arisen in the church andin human society in recent years.Without more ado, let us look at afew of these.

It is certain that Dr. Machen wouldrejoice in the continued decline ofthat old-fashioned type of "liberal"theology which characterized the Ger­man theological schools of the latenineteenth century and many Ameri-can seminaries ot the first quarter of

.-,

year 1946, a straight path which islighted by the lamp of the Word oftruth. It is oriented toward the gateof the celestial city, and that onewithin its walls, of whom we havebeen thinking, is verily one of a cloudof witnesses in the sense of the authorof the epistle to the Hebrews. "See­ing we ... are compassed about withso great a cloud of witnesses, let uslay aside every weight, and the sinwhich doth so easily beset us, andlet us run with patience, the racethat is set before us, looking untoJesus the author and finisher of ourfaith."

J'I

J

I

i

status in the naval service might con­ceivably indicate to SOQ1e that I am amilitarist by adoption if not by choice;I trust such a misconception will bedispelled by the candid confession thatI thoroughly detest the military lifeand can wait only for the day when Ishall be released from nearly fouryears of active duty.

The reasons which prompt me towrite, however, so completely tran­scend the fears that I may be misun­derstood that I cannot forbear to takeissue with the article in question. Iconsider it to be representative of a'type of thinking which is fallacious inits reasoning and utterly deleterious tothe public safety.

In the second paragraph of Mr.Marsden's article he enumerates theobjections usually proposed againstconscription-that it would interruptthe educational, industrial, or religiouslife of young men and subject themto unnecessary temptations. I quiteagree with Mr. Marsden that theseare not the "best" reasons proposedagainst conscription-they are, in fact,no reasons at all. The issue at stakeis not the degree of inconvenience towhich we must subject the young menof our country, but the basic questionas to whether this nation can survivewithout the preparedness which this

clearly shown to be far-fetched and a' cerned to guard religious liberty. Inmockery as, for example, in the articles this connection, it is also encouragingcontributed to this journal by the that Japanese representation at theRev. Johannes Vos. In short, the cause Vatican is no longer to be permitted.of Christianity was dealt an even There seem, therefore, to be clearermore severe blow from within by its notions of the principle of separationcompromise with paganism. of church and state in Japan than in

Now an end has been brought to Washington.the situation in which these sad de- The door seems about to be openedvelopments took place. The tests of to missionary activity. But the ques-loyalty have been abolished. The state tion arises as to whether it will reallymay no longer sponsor or support the open wide. Will discrimination beshrines. avoided in permitting missionary

Another good report is that, in con- agencies to return to Japan? If thedemning state Shintoism, care has administration is consistent with thebeen taken to guard religious liberty. good start it has made, it will makeNo sect is to be discriminated against, no attempt to decide what is best re-not even Shintoism as a religion ligiously for Japan, and smaller, lessdivorced from the state. A less scrupu- influential, groups will have equal op-lous conqueror might have been ex- portunity with the larger organiza-pected to demand that Shintoism 'of tions.every sort be abolished. That dis- If the door is really opened wide,crimination was exercised at that point are we prepared to enter and take upis the best assurance that the govern- our missionary task with renewedrnent of occupation is seriously con-' vigor?

•

From the Editors' MailbagUSS Fargo (CL 106)Fleet Post OfficeNew York, New York.December 10, 1945

To the Editors ofTHE PRESBYTERIAN GUARDIANDear Sirs:

For the first time in my life I amwriting to the editor of a publicationin indignant protest against the con­tents of one of its articles. I refer toRev. Robert S. Marsden's remarks"Against Peacetime Conscription" inthe November .25th issue of theGUARDIAN.

With many misgivings I join theranks of those who seize this way toburst into print. First, because myuncle was a former editor of theGUARDIAN, I hesitate to take issuewith the organ of the church forwhich he gave his life. I am glad,

.however, that the subject whichprompts me to write is not a doctrinalone, but is, in fact, so completely secu­lar and political that it would seem tohave no place in an ecclesiastical pub­lication at all. Secondly, I feel a nat­ural deference in calling to task a manlike Mr. Marsden; however, I. havehad stimulating arguments with himbefore and am sure he will accept thisdifference of opinion as charitably ashe has the others. Finally, my present

PRESBYTERIAN GUARDIAN "a.Da~ 10THE8

An Open Doorin Japan?

THE report that, by directive ofGeneral MacArthur, state support

of Shintoism has been abolished inJapan, is some of the best news thathas come since the war. It offers goodhope that soon a new day for Chris­tian missions may dawn in that be­nighted land.

Shintoism, which cultivated themyth of the emperor's deity and ofthe destiny of Nippon to rule theworld, became the bulwark of im­perialistic schemes. It became a na­tional religion of strongly politicalcharacter. It was sponsored, perpetu­ated and disseminated by direct gov­ernment action and subsidy. As inthe old Roman Empire, worship ofthe emperor was made a test of loyaltyto the empire, so the Japanese mili­tarists effectively made attendanceupon the Shinto shrines a test ofgood citizenship.

It is not difficult to see that Chris­tian missions could hardly thrive undersuch a regime. It had two inevitableresults. The faithful Christians, whowould not have anything to do withsuch idolatry, were persecuted. Butmany remained faithful in their wit­ness at whatever cost. Imprisonmentand worse consequences befell them.It seemed that the Christian causehad suffered a crushing defeat. Butthere was another result of quite dif­ferent character. By and large, Chris­tian missions in Japan made theirpeace with the government and thechurch of Christ in Japan workedhand in hand with the state program.The fiction was developed that at­tendance upon the shrines was not'tdally a religious act. But this has been

9

* * *Buechel, Ky.

DEAR Brethren: As one who hasobserved somewhat distantly­

and therefore mote objectively, per­haps, than others-the inception anddevelopment of The Orthodox Pres­byterian Church, I feel constrained topoint out one inconsistent practicein our denomination's development.It is the inclination to use worldlymethods in an effort to be "fishers ofmen." Particularly I refer to use ofchurch-sponsored dramatics to inter­est the young people 'and church­sponsored playgrounds and games toallure children to our Bible schools.David said, "If I regard iniquity in myheart, the Lord will not hear me"(Psalm 66:18).

Now, some will try to justify themethods which I have instanced onthe ground that there is nothingwrong in the dramatics-of the kindpresented-and surely nothing' wrongin playing games. Even granting theargument thus far, it still remains afact that it does not belong in thechurch, for as the heart is the centerof a man, the church is the core of ourworship. Also, it does not properlybelong in the realm of religion toprovide amusement or entertainmentfor those of any age. We have seenhow this has corrupted our educativeprocesses to a degree that has pm­duced better athletes than scholarsin many of our colleges and universi­ties. Shall we adopt the same 'fallacyin educating the soul for eternitywhich has led to a general decay ofour scholastic standards as a nation?

Some will then say, if these thingsdo not belong in church activities, dothey belong in the Christian life atall? Personally, I believe they do not

military preparedness is necessary.To many of us who have been in

the service for several years and havefelt the disadvantages of not beingprepared and trained beforehand, it isa SOurce of profound encouragementthat so few people seem to feel as Mr.Marsden does; Perhaps the war wasnot fought in vain after all-perhapswe shall maintain our vigilancedespitethe cries of those who shout blandlythat the emergenc~ is over-perhaps,by the grace of God, we won't have todo it all over again twenty years fromnqw.

ARTHUR W. MACHEN, JR.,Lieutenant, U.S, Naval Reserve

amendment to conscription is quitepreposterous, but even granting on thewildest stretch of the imagination thatconscription does involve the surrenderof rights, the basic questions still re­main unanswered: Does not the emer- ­gency (or state of affairs, if you pre­fer) which prompted the wartime draftstill exist? Is not preparedness to de­fend the peace one of the obligationswe assumed when we undertook theleadership of the United Nations? Itwould seem that the article in theGUARDIAN overlooks these questionscompletely in an attempt to seek legalbarriers to the principle of conscrip­tion.

The second "moral objection" whichMr. Marsden advances also fails toaccount for the fundamental issue atstake. Granting that it is the preroga­tive of the family to raise and trainchildren, is it not still the duty ofyoung men when they become of ageto be prepared to defend their countryin time' of need? If they are trulypacifists or conscientious objectorsthey may serve in other ways thanbearing arms-but this type of servicein no way cancels the training theyhave already received at home.

The third and final objection-thatconscription is a violation of the prin­ciple that the state exists for the indi­vidual-is likewise self-answered. If

, conscription is enacted, it will be doneby the will of the people who believeit necessary for their collective safety;it will not be imposed on them by aFascist dictator. To imply, as Mr.Marsden does, that the freely ex­pressed will of the majority is embry­onic tyranny is to disregard the basicprinciple of democratic government.

Finally, the solutions which Mr.Marsden advances in his closing para­graph would seem completely imprac­tical in a country where military serv­ice is so unpopular that it cannot bemade attractive. To be sure, theROTC program will undoubtedly beexpanded in future years, but that isno substitute for the basic trainingwhich a large body of future enlistedmen must receive. Americans in gen­eral detest military life-they dislikeregimentation, uniforms, taking orders,separation from home, and all theother unattractive features of the serv­ice; no "benefits" within reason couldpossibly overcome these intrinsic prej­udices. It is not, therefore, a questionof making military life more attractive,but of making the country realize that

THE PRESBYTERIAN GUARDIAN

inconvenience will provide. Very fewpeople in America would hold that ayear of military duty is a pleasant pas­time or an education worth the dis­advantages it extends to the individ­ual; yet according to the Gallup pollreport of December 5th, nearly 75%of the population believe conscriptionto be indispensable to the welfareand security of the country.

The, whole problem, therefore, boilsdown not to the physical, moral, orintellectual nature of conscription it­self but the fundamental question ofits strategic necessity in a world which'Can scarcely be termed at peace despitethe outward cessation of hostilities.The structure of the United Nationshas'been established; to be sure, butthe only hope for its success lies in itspractical' rather than in its Utopianconcepts. It does not presume thatmerely by signing a scrap of paper, thenations of the world will forever abol­ish wars and rumors of wars-it holdsthat those who have won the peacemust unite to defend it against futureaggressors who will seek to destroy it.To imply that military preparedness isinconsistent with our obligations tothe United Nations is to misunder­stand the basic principle of that or­ganization and to suggest that we areto shirk our responsibilities as one ofthe peace-loving nations of the world. _Just because we in the domestic fieldhave a legislative and judicial system,we do not abolish the police force andthe F.B.I.

Since, .therefore, the entire issue isquite on a different plane from thatset forth in the article under discus­sion, I hesitate even to take up thethree, -"moral objections" which Mr.Marsden advances. And yet, I submit,they represent such an utterly unten­able position that they cannot be over­looked even on the grounds on whichthey are founded.

The first objection-that conscrip­tion is a violation of the thirteenthamendment of the Constitution-pre­sents a unique interpretation of thatdocument indeed. When dischargedfrom the service, I shall certainly feelliberated in many respects, but scarcelyemancipated from slavery. The Con­stitution itself gives Congress the rightto raise and support armies, and surelythis power cannot be restricted to vol­untary enlistments when the numberrequired exceeds the number available.I am advised by legal authorities thatthe application of the thirteenth

avataras of Vishnu. The sacred booksof the Mahabharata and the Rama­yana tell his story. He was a heroof the northland, and was a great manof some warrior clan, who became auniversal god. He is chaste and pureand his bnde Sita is the' very idea! ofHindu womanhood and the perfectmate for the noble Rama. The Hinduslove the stories of the trials of RamaandSita and love to tell of the faith­fulness of Sita and the final triumph.of virtue over temptation. The tale ofRama's prowess as. a prince of heroicproportions is often told.

Rama has a great deal of influencein India today, and while there areno accurate figures, there may be asmany as 100,000,000 Ramites, mostof them in central and northern India.

The Hindu philosopher Tulsi Dasexalts Rama. He writes, "By the graceof Rama every disease is extirpated,with a holy teacher for physician,faith for a prescription, contempt ofthe world for a regimen, devotion toVishnu for a 'life-giving drug, and asoul full of faith in the means ofcure.... The Vedas, the Puranasand all the scriptures declare thatwithout faith in Rama there is nohappiness; it would be easier for waterto stay on the back of a tortoise, orfor the son of a childless woman tobe slain, than for any creature to behappy in opposition to Vishnu.Sooner shall thirst be satisfied bydrinking of a mirage, and sooner shallfire appear out of ice, than for any­one to oppose Rama and yet findhappiness. . . . Is there any creature,o dull of soul, who has worshipedRama and not found salvation? . . .In this age of the world there is noother salvation, neither by means ofabstraction, sacrifice, prayer, penance,the payment of vows, nor religiousceremonial. Think only of Rama,sing only of Rama, give ear only toRama's infinite perfections" (quotedin Archer, p. 212). .

There are at least two schools ofthis Rama gospel-that which attrib­utes to man free-will and that whichattributes all power to Rama. Thenorthern school "thinks of man's re­lations to Rama as cooperative. Theyare the 'monkey-hold' theorists; theybelieve that Rama saves only if manclings close to him, as the babymonkey clinks to its mother in flight.The southern school minimizes man'spart and magnifies Rama's part in sal­vation. They are the 'cat-hold' the-

right whatever' the consequences, butI do not believe that born-again be­lievers of any age must be COddled tokeep them interested. Certainly noreal growth of our church can be ex­pected when such means are em­ployed. The church that distinctivelyand solely represents' a program ofworshiping the triune God and study­ing His oracles-with no extraneouspreoccupations-is the church. whichHe will most richly bless.

Sincerely yours,SAMUEL H. STUART

,,\

Bhagavad-gita. This "Song of theAdorable" is a poem at least two thou­sand years old and commends faithin Krishna as the chief ~ay of salva­tion. The Gita says that Krishna is"father, mother, the only lord andrefuge; worshipers of me, when theyworship, are in me, and I also am inthem; he who worships me does notperish" [Archer, p. 207). Krishnais worshiped chiefly in two forms­as a child and as the cowherd, thelover. His life as a cowherd is filledwith amorous exploits and it is in theworship of him in this form that thereis the grossest sensualism.

Krishna in the Gita makes claims tothe devotion of the people, claims thatsound like those of a universal god.He claims universal sovereignty andthat he takes no account, of caste; hedisclaims works as a means to salva­tion unless they are done for Krishna'ssake. He extends the offer of salvationto all-to women, tradesmen andserfs as well as to the righteousBrahmans. Devotion to him can breakthe round of births and cancel allevil fruits of life.

RamaWhile Krishna is the most popular

of the incarnations of Vishnu, Ramais perhaps the best known nameamong the gods. His name is upon alllips and all sects of Hindus revere him.His name is used the most for Hinduchildren. It is often a kind of incanta­tion. Companies of pilgrims walkingthrough the streets of Benares mightbe heard to chant Ram, Ram, Ram.Rama is, of COurse, another of the

THE PRESBYTERIAN GUARDIAN18

as regards dramatics, for the world haspreempted this field to such an extentthat it is. synonymous with worldlyamusement; As to play and games, itis a different matter, for there is nosuch implication here. But to providefor youngsters to amuse themselveson the, church grounds is foreign, Ithink, to the idea of the sanctity ofthe premises. Rather, they should betaught to be sober and reverent aroundthe house of God.

If interest cannot be maintainedby any other means it is better to do

VishDD~·a God of Dinduism"Faiths Men Die lJy"-PART 17

By the REV. ROBERT S. MARSDEN

T HE third of the modern triad ofHindu gods, along with Brahma

and Shiva, is Vishnu. He and .Shivadivide between them the whole field,for the influence of Brahma is negli­gible. Vishnu probably has more tol­lowers who are devoted to him alonethan has any other god, and in someof the concepts of Vishnu he appearsalmost to claim to be the one andonly deity. He is known chiefly by hisforms-his avataras, i.e., his "descents,embodiments, incarnations," and heis worshiped through them. There aresaid to be ten of his incarnations,"according to tradition: the fish, thetortoise, the boar, the man-lion, thedwarf,Parasurama, Rama, Krishna,Buddha, and one yet to come. Somemodern Vishnuites are inclined toconsider Christ as the tenth, thus in­corporating Christianity as they haveBuddhism into Hinduism" (Braden,The W orId's Religions, p. 95). Byothers it is said that his incarnationsare infinite and it is quite possiblethat Mahatma Gandhi will be so re­garded in due time. Vishnu was orig­inally an Aryan solar deity in theclassic Rig Vedic period of Hinduism.He became a popular deity after his"incarnation," i.e., he dwelt for a timewithin a human form. He is repre­sented as having descended manytimes as an animal or a man. Of theavataras the most important areKrishna and Rama.

KrishnaIt is Krishna who is doubtless the

most popular of the incarnations. Heis known through the sacred book, the

THE PRESBYTERIAN GUARDIAN 11

The Problem of Su:ffering

JAN. 20TH. JOB 1 (21) *I N THE first chapter of this ancient

chronicle, there is portrayed astartling contrast in the experiencesof the venerable Job.. Space does notpermit more than a mention of theharmonious home life, the provi­dential prosperity of the righteousJob and his deep spiritual concern forhis children. In contrast is the sweep­ing catastrophe which God permitsthe challenging Satan to effect in Job'sfortunes. Finally, there is the reac­tion of the pious Job who worships

house was fragrant and bright withpine and holly branches.

"And for Thomas, the happiest partof that Christmas was the new peaceof Christ, the Prince of Peace, in hisheart, and the new peace too, betweenhimself and his brother."

Ted and Tommy, who had beenlistening to the story with absorbedattention, looked up as their fatherpaused. Teddy drew a deep breath,"That was a swell story, Dad." AndTommy added, "I think I know who'Thomas' was. He was your father,Thomas Kantwell, that I am namedfor. You changed the last name forthe story."

"Yes, you are right," said Daddy."'Thomas' was my father and yourgrandfather, and 'Joey' was my unclewho went away to Africa as a mis­sionary and laid down his' life theremany long years ago."

"Daddy," said Ted, "that olderbrother learned a lesson he never for­got, didn't he!. I'm sure he was nevermean like that to his brother again,after he thought he'd lost him for­ever."

"No, son, I'm sure he wasn't.""Well, I've learned a.Iesson too. I

don't want to be mean to my brotherany more either. I want to ask thePrince of Peace to live in my heart."

"I do, too!" said little Tommy.

P. S. Teddy and Tommy did gettheir Christmas tree from Piney Peak.

~

* Memory verse suggestion.

CHILDREN IBy HARRIET Z. TEAL

A Story for the Children's Hour

help of some neighbor women, beganpreparations for a hearty breakfast foreveryone, little Joey told his story.

"It seems that while he was runningdown the mountain trail after hisbrother, he had tripped, fallen andthen found himself sliding down themountainside among dark evergreentrees. That part of the mountain wasvery steep and he slid fast, but he keptbumping against trees. At last he wentfaster and faster, till he came up­bang! against a tree trunk. Then heknew no more till he woke up lyingon a bunk in a little cabin, with akind stranger bending over him, bath­ing and bandaging his forehead, whichwas bruised and cut from his bumpagainst the tree.

"And who was the kind stranger?None other than the 'Hermit' ofwhom the children had heard suchblood-curdling tales (all of them imag­inary) .

"Dr. Stanton was a scientist who,because of a great sorrow and dis­appointment, had retired. to a littlecabin in a secluded glen at the foot ofPiney Peak, for a few months' rest andquiet till he should feel able to takehis place in the busy world agMn.

" 'But,' said Dr. Stanton, 'T'believemy adventure tonight has done memore good than anything else. I needto be among Christian people likeyourselves and to learn the faith inGod that you have! Yes, I can feel itin my heart to thank Him for lettinglittle Joey roll down to my doorsteplast evening.'

"Needless to say, Dr. Stanton wasthe guest of honor at the Christmascelebration in the Kanes' home twodays later, when the Christmas treefrom Piney Peak stood proudly wear­ing its gay holiday dress and the whole

. of religion not based upon the revela­tion of God. It illustrates Romans1 : 2 5, where we read that those uponwhom is the wrath of God have"changed the truth of God into a lie,and worshiped and served the creaturemore than the creator, who is blessedfor ever."

PART TWO

orists; man is like the.kitten carriedby the-nape of the neck. Tulsi be­longs to the northern school, whichis in the majority. . .. His greattheme is man's' active devotion toRama" (Archer, pp. 212f.).

This is. the highest point that.Hinduism reaches-s-it is the ultimate

THOMAS had .cried till he couldcry no more; his heart was broken..

.Oh, suppose his little brother wasdead, and it was all his fault for beingso unkind to Joey! The poor boy kneltbeside his mother's chair and buriedhis face in her lap-'Oh, mother,what shall I do!' he cried.

"His mother, whose own heart wasbreaking, laid her hand on her elderson's head and said gently, 'Son, thereis no one who can help us but Jesus.Let us take our troubles to Him.'

"So Thomas prayed, 'Dear Lord,please forgive my sins, 0 please do!And please bring my little brotherback safe. For Jesus' sake, Amen.' Ashe prayed he felt peace flow into hisheart, for he had cast his burdens onthe Lord-and He had sustained him.

"But now there was a sound out­side, at first far away down the laneby the bridge, but as they listenedthey were sure it was the sound ofsled runners drawing nearer. Thomasand his mother ran to the door andsaw coming toward them in the moon­light a tall figure, clad in hunter'sclothes and drawing a sled on whichwas a figure wrapped in blankets.

"<Here's your boy,' called thestranger, 'safe and sound.'

"And little Joey's voice called, 'Yes,here I am, Mother, I'm all right.'Thomas hugged his brother first, andthen ran to ring the farm bell to callthe searchers back. And soon the farmkitchen was full of rejoicing people.

"First, all paused and bowed theirheads while Farmer Kane offered aprayer of thanksgiving from a fullheart to God for His goodness. in re­storing their child safe and well.

"Then, while the mother, with the

A ~hristmas Tree,From Piney Peak

t.

THE PRE~BYTEBIAN GUARDIAN

familiar to him also. Furthermore,he shows that the wicked do manytimes prosper in this world and therighteous suffer. Within God's handis the soul and brea-th of every man.Well may the wicked ponder thisword! For though they be princes andkings, He will deal with them in justiceand righteousness.

FEB. 1ST. JOB 13 (15a)Right boldly Job turns the accusa­

tions of his friends upon them. De­spite his miserable condition, he hasmaintained his integrity and silencesthem, for he finds no comfort in them.Then Job gives expression to his faithin the wisdoin of God, declaring hiscontinued trust, though his life betaken. May God grant us a like faith!

2ND. JOB 14 (1)The problem of life has formed part

of Job's thoughts, and he finds itshort, sorrowful, sinful and deter­mined as to its length. Of death alsohe has meditated, and declares it de­cisive, sure and permanent as to thisworld. But glimpses of his resurrec­tion hope are seen (14, 15) as heshall await the call from the grave.In this superficial age, it is the partof wisdom to give more thought tothese questions of life and death andthe hope to come!

3RD. JOB 15 [r ra].Again Eliphaz replies against Job,

speaking wise words but misapplyingthem' to Job. One question should beconsidered in the problem of suffer­ing:"Are the consolations of Godsmall with thee?" Do you fail to findrich comfort in the promises and pres­ence of God? Do you question thewisdom of His permissive will? Doesthe heavy hand of chastisement makeyou forget the directing motive oflove? Is your view of the glory thatis to come limited . by the presentsuffering? "Let not your heart betroubled, ye believe in God believealso in me," said our Lord JesusChrist.

4TH. JOB 16 (21)In the midst of his response to

Eliphaz, we find Job vainly seeking anintercessor. His friends accused himand pled not for him. Job desired anintercessor and needed one. Thou­sands today have that same need.While Christ is the great Intercessor,you and I have a ministry of inter­cession for the sorrowful and espe­cially for those lost in sin. To yourknees, Christian!

-HENl\Y D. PHILLIPS

"Yet man is born unto trouble, as thesparks fly upward." Oh, the bitternessof the man from whom God has ap­parently turned His face!

27TH. JOB 8 (20)A second "friend" begins his cold

words of comfort. Bildad reasons thatsuch great punishment is because ofuncontessed sin, either on the part ofJob or his children, Behind his wordswere suspicions of hypocrisy on thepart of Job. How often we fall intothe same mistake and verily dig a pitfor a friend, rather than give him ahelping hand upward. It is as truein salvation, there is no help from thehuman standpoint. Only God is ableto make all grace abound toward you.

28TH. JOB 9 (2)Job feels that there is a great gulf

between himself and the holy, power­ful and just God. A mere man can­not approach unto Him to present hiscause. Job 'sorely laments that thereis no mediator or daysman; that thereis no advocate to prosecute his casebefore God. That same gulf exists to­day between sinful man and our holyGod: but there is a Mediator betweenGod and man, the man Christ Jesus.Flee to Him in distress of soul!

29TH. JOB 10 (21,22)Although Job is a righteous man

and has hope of the resurrection(19:25), he speaks here as a world­ling. He looks for some comforts nowin this life because he has very darkviews of the future. Satan's tempta­tions were very strong and broughtJob very low, but he was preserved inhis faith by God. Let us never under­estimate the poisonous power of thepersonal Devil. Only· by the powerof God can he be overcome.

30TH. JOB 11 (7)A third friend, Zophar, berates Job

as a liar and a hypocrite. Into his opensores he pours gall rather than a heal­ing balf1.. Nevertheless, we behold inthis speech. of Zophar an extensiveknowledge .of God in His wisdom andperfections. God's incomprehensibil­ity, infinite wisdom and sovereignty,and His omniscience are all included.Well might we laugh at modernscholars who deny to other ages thanour own such wisdom as is here re­vealed from patriarchal times. Wellmight man be humble before the LordGod Almighty.

31ST. JOB 12 (10)Job rebukes the evaluation his

friends have made of his characterand rejects their platitudes as entirely

12

God, withal; but to our minds comesthe big question, WHY?

. 21ST. JOB 2 (10)Shorn of his prospenty and poster­

ity, forsaken by his helpmeet, marredbeyond recogmtion by erupting boils,and overcome with grief, Job sits inhumility among' the ashes. Here thescene is laid and ·we behold an ex­ample of suffering affliction and ofpatience. .

22ND. JOB 3 (20)Bursting the bounds of his patience,

the grief of Job gives utterance to hiscomplaint against the providence ofGod in giving and sustaining his lifeunto such an agony as he is now suffer­ing. Perhaps you too have been goingthrough such a dark valley of ex­perience. It cannot be denied thatJob in his complaint sinned with hislips. Therefore, be admonished bythis to rely upon the Saviour and notyour own integrity.

23RD. JOB 4 (3, 4)The patriarchal Eliphaz speaks from

his position of venerable years anda peculiar experience which taughthim the absolute purity of God andthe sinfulness of man. He denies thatthe innocent .and righteous suffer (vs.7), therefore implying that Job mustbe hiding some secret sin.

24TH. JOB 5 (17)The harsh judgment of the dog­

matic Eliphaz is somewhat softenedin the latter part of his speech. Hecounsels Job to receive this chastise­ment from God and to be more pa­tient under it. Eliphaz did not hesi­tate to point an accusing finger.Nevertheless, God' does chastise Hischildren for their purification. Let usreceive it as such from Him.

25TH. JOB 6 (25)In the beginning of his response to

Eliphaz, Job indicates that he haslost all sense of the greatness of hu­man life and personality. His greatestlonging is that God might take hislife. This is the conclusion of suicides;but Job retained his fear of God andspoke not of taking his own life. Be­loved, so great may be your depres­sion, but there is One ruling oyerall. He is the merciful and just God.

26TH. JOB 7 (21a)The bitterness of Job's suffering

reaches its peak in this chapter. Im­patienc;ereplaces patience; he speaksinalriiost a sharp manner to God. Hedoubts" the justice of God in so dog­ging his steps. The force of Eliphaz'words burn into his very marrow,

By E. LYNNE WADE, Lleutenant-Commandee, USNSenior Chaplain, U.S.S. Consolation

THE PRESBYTERIAN GUARDIAN

Note8From_

Navy Chaplain~8Log

13

IEVANGELISM I

•

wise'perfectly, except for some mispro-nunciation. '

"Do you understand that-and doyou believe it?" I asked. They reallydid, and there began a period of trueChristian fellowship with two of God'sprecious children that was only anearnest of similar blessings to comeduring the entire remainder of ourtime on Cuadalcanal.

We talked about the things of theLord together, and finally bowed ourheads and prayed. I'm sorry to say thatI did all the praying-and so robbed,myself of what would have surelybeen a great blessing-I just nevereven-thought about the natives pray­ing-so it was not until much laterthat I got my ears popped wide 'openon hearing my first native Christianprayer.

Anyway, the occasion called for aspecial celebration, so I went to mylittle ice-box and fished out severalbottles of my prized orange soda-pop.It was something entirely new as yetto my new friends, and it was funnierthan I can tell you to watch themsquirm when they touched the cold 'bottles, and later some ice I put intheir hands, and to hear them squeallike delighted children - jabberingback and forth to each other in theirown language, seemingly enjoying themost wonderful joke of their lives.And in the oppressive heat of thatsummer's day, they learned how un­speakablygood an ice-cold drink canbe. They' loved it. Ray had come induring our conversation, and the fourof us had a wonderful time.

Some of you who have read theGUARDIAN regularly throughout thepast year have already recognized thatthis was our dear brother [eriel Afiawho came to my tent that day; Youread his wonderful letter, in which herecalls the same incident, and many ofyou have generously responded to that"cry from the Solomons" with the

'gift of fine Thompson Bibles, schoolsupplies, or the financial means ofpurchasing and shipping such suppliesto Jeriel. If you could only have onesuch experience with him personally,

promptly put the surprised Americansin their place in no uncertain terms­quoting the Bible in doing so.

Then. one day soon afterward, acouple of natives came to my tent andsaid to me, "You-fella missionaryb'long 'Merica?" It finally dawned onme that such was their pidgin Englishway of asking me if I were an Ameri­can Chaplain, soI said, "Yes." "Metwo-fella want-im booka.' This wasthe first time I had ever heard pidgin,so I was pretty slow catching on-espe­cially since, when a native speaks it,he makes it sound almost like a nativelanguage, and any resemblance to theway we speak in the good old U.S.A.is pure coincidence, or after studiedpractice on the part of the native tolearn to speak "proper" English.

So they wanted a book. Well, I wasLibrary Officer for our Battalion, butI had neither. the right nor the inclina­tion to give away any of our treasuredsupply of reading material, which wasall too small as it was, and would wearout all too .soon with the rou~h han­dling of Seabees in that intense tropi­cal climate. Besides, what good:,wouldbooks do these simple (I thought)primitive people, who undoubtedlywere unable to read?

"What kind of.book do you want?"I asked, evasively. "Me want-im bookb'long God," was the unexpected re­ply. "Oh," I said, "a Bible! Good!Are you boys [every native man is a"boy"] Christians?" They beamed allover-yes, they were Christians-so Iinvited them into my tent. I got outsome Gideon New Testaments-s-I hadno supply of whole Bibles-and still abit skeptical, I asked them if theycould read. Yes, they could, so Ihanded one a Testament and askedhim to read me something.

He opened to John 3:16 and readthe whole verse, 'slowly but withouterror. I thought perhaps he just knewthat verse by heart, and enough simpleEnglish to find the place, so I took theTestament and found a more out-of­the-way, difficult passage-II Thessa­lonians 1 :7-10 for him to read. Thishe did-very deliberately, but other-

PART EIGHT

(NOTE: Earlier instalments of thesearticles appeared in the issues ofMay 10, July 10, August 15, Septem­ber 10, October 10, October 25, andDecember 10, 1945.)

I T WAS about this time that I be­gan to have my first contact with

the Solomon Island natives on Guadal­canal. They were not all from Guadal­canal itself. As a matter of fact, mostof those around the camps had beenbrought over from the island of Ma­laita by the British authorities to servein two different capacities. There wasa small corps of native soldiers whowere used as jungle guides for our own

• patrols, or who would go out as ajungle patrol themselves to spot Jappositions, pick off snipers, and per­form other highly useful militarychores.

The large majority of natives, how­ever, were formed into labor battalions.They did an invaluable job of unload~ing supplies from ships, setting upsupply dumps, clearing camp sites andairfield areas, as well as many othernecessary unpleasant tasks, thus re­leasing our own forces for the primarywork of fighting the enemy.

I shall have a great deal more tosay about the natives later, but whenwe arrived in the Solomons, I was incomplete ignorance of the nature orextent of work by Christian missionsthere. I am ashamed to confess thatit had not even occurred to me thatthe gospel had ever penetrated suchan out-of-the-way spot on the earth'ssurface-a spot which perhaps ninety­five per cent. of the population of theUnited States had never heard of be­fore August 7, 1942 •

So I was a bit surprised when ourSenior Medical Officer reported to meone day a conversation he had over­heard at the Tojo Ice Company. Itseems that some of our American boys

. thought they would be funny by mak­ing some lewd, suggestive conversa­tion concerning native women to acouple of native men. The native men

THE PRES~YTERIAN GUARDIAN J--rr 18

Genesis-and point unmistakably to'our Lord Jesus Christ alone. So afterabout the fourth lesson-and before Ihad started giving an urgent invitationat the close of the lesson, or duringthe prayer time, to receive and confessChrist openly-the meeting beingover, I was standing there talking toseveral of the boys when a young manpressed forward and said right therein front of them all, "Chaplain, I wantto accept Jesus Christ as my Saviour.""Well, praise the Lord, fellow," Isaid, "let's go off somewhere and talkabout it."

We walked through the camp anddown the road a short distance wherewe found a parked truck with nobodyaround to bother us. We got in andsat there while I explained the plan ofsalvation. And there Dallas Maxfieldgave his heart over completely toChrist. •He is one Christian I neversaw waver. once, throughout themonths that followed, in his faithful­ness and his spiritual life and growth.He was the steady kind that rejoicesany preacher's heart-the kind youjust know will always be there, and •that you can count on unfailingly, andyou never have to worry about. .•

Next to his joy in being at peacewith his God and Saviour, .I think

. Dallas rejoiced the most in what itwould mean to his fine Christian wifeto learn of the great eternal transactionaccomplished that night. He justcouldn't get over how happy it wouldmake her, and could hardly wait towrite her a letter telling her all aboutit. Yet he assured me that he hadn'tdone it just to please her. I didn't needany proof of that, especially as themonths rolled by.

For the first couple of months myweekly trip was made back and forthin those famous little craft of theWorld War II Navy that figurativelypack the speed and destructive powerof lightning-PT boats. The twenty­mile trip was usually made in thirty­five minutes flat-but then, of course,there was no need of hurrying, so theskipper would just sort of idle alongat two-thirds to three-quarters speed.

But after the novelty and thrill ofthe first ride or two, it's certainly nopleasure to ride in them. They are sonoisy with the thunderous roar oftheir engines that you can hardly hearsomeone shouting right in your ear.And if you sit anywhere topside you'have to hold on for dear life or you'llbe blown or bounced, or both, right

tional and athletic equipment, settingup a good library for them, planning aprogram of sports and amusement,visiting their sick bay (they wereespecially plagued with dengue feveron Tulagi, and there were several veryserious occupational accidents amongthem), and, of course, providing fortheir spiritual needs, including a Bibleclass every week, the evening I wasamong them.

These were always my best-attendedBible classes, averaging some seventyevery week. Every Wednesday I wouldcatch the boat crossing the bay, andreturn the next day. Ray, or someoneelse, would take over the Bible classon Guadalcanal the evening I wasaway, and I would have a happy timewith my boys of Company "D." Thisweekly junket was a source and meansof some of the most thrilling and in­teresting experiences I had overseas,so I could not leave them out of thisstory.

I decided to teach the book ofGenesis, chapter by chapter, to theclass on Tulagi. I remember so well,after the first lesson, being approachedby the only really outstanding Chris­tian boy I knew in Company "D,"Delmar Wilcox.

He wondered if I c'ouldn't havechosen a better subject for my lessons,since probably most of those presentat the ·class had no idea of what itmeans to be saved. I explained aspatiently as I could that I agreed as tothe absolute necessity of preachingChrist and the new birth to the men,and I was glad" he felt so stronglyabout it, but that he would soon see itwould be made very clear, even fromthe Old Testament, and that the menwould be pressed to receive and con­fess the Lord Jesus as their personalSaviour.

It was well that they should see,right here at the beginning, how abso­lutely trustworthy and authoritativeare the Scriptures as the infallibleWord of God, in the account of crea­tion; and above all, we must not seekto put a limit on the power of theWord of God to save. Peter tells usthat we are born again of the incor­ruptible Word of God-and he doesnot limit that to any particular portionof the Word.

Ah, the power of that blessed Wordto save indeed was not too long in be­coming manifest. The whole plan ofsalvation is perfectly and clearly setforth in those first four chapters of

14

as I did, you would feel richly repaideven in this life-to say nothing ofthe treasure you have thus laid up inheaven.

Tulagi is a tiny island nestled withinan indenture of the much largerFlorida Island, some twenty milesacross a bay from Guadalcanal. It wasthe seat of British authority in theSolomons before the war, and was thescene of some of the bloodiest, bitter­est fighting the first week or so of thecampaign for the islands. For a betterdescription of those days than I couldever give you, I would recommend toyou the reading of the most accurateand interesting book which has beenwritten on the subject-GuadalcanalDiary by Richard Tregaskis, withwhom I had dinner one evening, learn­ing about those exciting events in away that could never be written down.

Another good book which dealswith Tulagi and Guadalcanal froman entirely different angle is TheWounded Get Back by Albert Maisel.The well-known book Head Huntingin the Solomons makes interestingreading, but is much less reliable as anaccurate picture of the islands, havingbeen written obviously to appeal topublic taste and taking many literary

.privileges.There had been no Seabees what­

ever'on Tulagi until the time our out­fit was brought in, and their marvelousreputation had become such that theSenior Naval Officer on Tulagi foughtall the powers that be until he suc­ceeded in having one of our five com­panies (Company "D"-comprised ofsome two hundred men and four offi­cers, plus our Junior Medical Officer)put off on Tulagi instead of with therest of the Battalion on Guadalcanal.

I never heard anyone go into suchsuperlatives as that old Navy Captaindid to me one day about how wonder­ful our boys were, and their companycommander, Lt. Carmichael. A littlelater, when a whole new Battalion ofSeabees-the 27th-was brought in tothe little island, their CommandingOfficer was transferred, leaving hispost vacant, so the Captain did theunprecedented thing of making Mr.Carmichael the Commanding Officerof the 27th-and it worked out beau­tifully, because Mr.. Carmichael wasone of the best.

Since I had a responsibility to thisfifth of our outfit, I soon, planned togo see them once every week, takingthem their fair share of all the recrea-

•

TBEPRESBYTERIAN GUARDIAN

NOW WANTEDYOUNG MEN-YOUNG WOMEN

PSYCHIATRIC NURSINGWRITE: DIRECTOR OF NURSES

Christian Sanatorium, Wyckoff, N. J.

FOR TRAINING IN

CHRISTIAN OPINION

were sold during 1942 by 'Ladies' Aids,and members of Sunday schools andYoung People's Groups. Finest qualitycloths, An easy. pleasant way to raisefunds for your treasury or for the pur­chase of WAR BONDS., Sample Free to Oflielal ~

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I am personally "fully sold" on themimeograph, and believe it is a verydefinite asset to the life of a church.The cost of running it is not prohibi­tive. The work involved depends en­tirely on, how much it is' used-butlet no' one think that the hours spentwith it are few. Neither let one thinkthat the profits are meager, for it iseminently worthwhile, and accom­plishes something that can be ac­complished in rio other way. Profes­sionally printed materials may presenta better appearance, and be far lesswork. But I doubt whether they cancompare in actual worthwhileness. Onour basis of past experience, I wouldsay, "Get a mimeograph-s-and use itt"

Order one or more copies of. thespecial Issue on The Color Problem.Seven articles setting forth whatis believed to be the Reformedposition on Inter-race relations.

(Price: 50 cents per 'cony)

ROOM 1106,95 UBERTY,ST.

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SUNFLOWBR DISH CLOTHS'

•

Grotenhuis(Concluded from Page 6)

similar for home consumption. Eachmonth we -have been mimeographinga single-page church letter. It is de­cided to enlarge this venture, and

. eventually a twelve-page pamphletcomes forth. It is called The Mes­senger and contains all the news ofthe local church and its members, inaddition to a printed sermon and aBible study. Each month it is mailedto every family in the church, and tointerested friends. It is well received,freely passed around, and the peopleare actually proud of their new baby.This, too; would never have been,were it not for a pleasant, 'smooth­talking "gyp" salesman who once soldme more than just an outmodedmimeograph.

me, the Solomon Islands are the mostbeautiful portion of God's handiworkof creation I have ever seen. I knowthat most of our boys who were overthere, remembering only the awfulmisery of battle, and the rain and mudand muck, and mosquitoes, and .beinginordinately homesick, will tell youthey saw nothing at all attractive there.They will call Guadalcanal "the rock"and tell you they hated it and never

. want to see it again. Gladly will theygive it back to the British, etc., etc.,etc. .

But its mountains and beaches sur­pass anything I have ever seen. any­where along the Atlantic or Pacific orGulf coasts of America, or within theinterior of our country, either, I quitefell in love with Hawaii, but there isstill no comparison. As a scene ofnatural beauty, the jungle areas withtheir rich, dense undergrowth, vines.and mighty trees that I saw on severalof the southern Solomon Islands arein a class all by themselves.

Never have I seen more beautifulcloud formations-and sunsets! Ifonly I could describe them! In clearweather, the sky by day.was arr incom­parable blue, and by night the moonwas so bright it would hurt your eyesat your first full open-eyed view of it.In the dark of the moon the patternof millions of stars, so strange and dif­ferent to the eyes of those who had

• always lived in the northern hemi­sphere, were crowned in their gloriousbeauty by the Southern Cross.

(To be continued)

1946

off. They bump up and down like ajeep on a jungle road even on thesmoothest water. Their only real ad­vantage, as far as traveling on them isconcerned, is that they get you whereyou want to go in a hurry.

It's the same way with airplanes­at least, military planes. I've ridden intransports, observation planes, amphi­bious "ducks," Liberators, FlyingForts, SBDs, and several other types,and they all roar with such a din youcan't even think. They do have oneother advantage beside getting youwhere you want to go in a hurry, andthat is the view you get of the scenerybelow.

One of the most interesting andbeautiful trips I ever took was in asmall observation plane flying lowdown the beaches of Ouadalcanalfrom Lunga to Cape Esperance shortlyafter theJapshad been driven off theisland. I was given a clear, bird's-eyeview of the amazing conglomerationof seemingly endless wreckage of Japlanding craft'\md other materiel wherethey had tried to make their finalevacuation. Included in the scene werethe hulls of five or six large transportswhich had been beached and sunkright at the shore, their bows stickingcrazily high in the air, riddled beyondbelief by our bombing and strafing.There was also the medium-sized Japsubmarine lying on the bottom someten fathorns below the surface offCape Esperance, seen clearly from theair, but inyisible from any other angle-it looked like a giant, shiny cigar,but was a sombre sight because it wasthe picture of awful death for the menof its crew inside-men with eternalsouls.

Leaving Cape Esperance, we' flewover tiny Savo Island, with its extinctvolcano crater still looking ugly andominous, and over the waters just offthe island where the great naval battlewas fought in. November, 1942­where the old Quincy and Astoria andVincennes had gone down, taking totheir death the brave husbands andfathers of' some of my dear Christianfamilies in the work I had had inMerrimack Park.

Then over Tulagi, Gavutu, Florida,and Palm Islands-the whole pano­rama of the bloody campaign for thesouthern Solomons was spread out be­neath me-and it was an awe-inspiringsight, with such fresh and vividre­membrances of what it had cost.

But it was beautiful, too. Believe

~-,

1

. ;., j ,.::\+"j-:~';_";;\,i;_'.~>L},j.r!i/ti.:J

The Presbyterian Tribune, long known.as a spokesman for the left-wing in the·,._Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., statesjthat an antidote for pessimism may befound by visiting Princeton - Seminarytoday. It hails the ."progress" and"strength" which has marked the institu­tion under the leadership of Dr. Mackay.

The South Carolina Baptist StateConvention, on the ground that -Protcs­tantism is not fairly represented in motionpictures today, resolved that "we shouldinsist that the moving picture industrystop leaving the impression that all thedecent ministers belong to one church,that all failures and bad ones come fromProtestant groups." This is not the firstsign of deep concern at _he extent towhich the movies have given the lime­light to Roman Catholicism. Is Protes­tantism really becoming more and moreineffectual?

News(Concluded from Page 2)

terian Hour in 1946," to be broadcastover an independent network of someforty stations in the general area of thischurch, Although joining with SouthernBaptists and Methodists in establishingthe Southern Religious Radio Conference,the identity of each denominational broad­cast will be preserved. The PresbyterianHour will be heard next Spring in March

-and April, and next Fall during October,November and December.

A pre-publication announcement by thePresbyterian and Reformed PublishingCompany states that early in the year itwill publish The New Modernism, by Dr.Cornelius Van Til. The book will haveas its sub-title, "An Appraisal of theTheology of Barth and Brunner:' At thesame time the early appearance of a vol­ume by Dr. Samuel G. Craig, to be calledChristianity Rightly So Called, was alsoannounced.

The World Council of ChristianChurches has received a gift of one million,dollars from John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Inmaking the gift, Mr. Rockefeller stated"This contribution is for your use in fur­thering the cause of -Christian unity, andlending air and assistance in the religious'reconstruction of the stricken Europeancountries and in the strengthening of non­denominational and interdenominationalChristian work and leadership in Europe."

Brief .ItelnsFrom the Churches

T HE First Orthodox PresbyterianChurch of Portland, Oregon, is

facing great difficulties due to thelack of a proper meeting place, andearnestly requests the prayers of allour readers. It could not renew thelease on its store-chapel, and was com­pelled to move to a private home onDecember 1St. This emergency wasmet by a decision to buy a suitablelot, but when plans were made toerect a pre-fabricated structure, op­position developed in the communityand in the City Council. It appearsthat it will be necessary to invest aconsiderably larger sum in the build­ing than had been anticipated, andhence an appeal for support is beingsent out.

Trinity Orthodox PresbyterianChurch of Bridgewater, S. D., held aBible Conference from December 5thto 16th. The Rev. W. Benson Maleof Denver, Colorado, was the speakerat the meetings.

Covenant Orthodox PresbyterianChurch of Berkeley, California, re­ports that a study of the Psalms isproving a great blessing at its mid­week services. Missionary interest isbeing stimulated effectively by thepastor with the aid supplied by theCommittee on Foreign Missions. Thechurch requests prayer at a time of •

-grave financial stress. _On December i Sth, the church

choir and the Girls' Chorus of Cal­vary Orthodox Presbyterian Church,Cedar Grove, Wisconsin, presented aChristmas cantata, "Yuletide Mem­ories." Devotions were led by thepastor, and an offering was receivedby the organ fund.

From Noveinber 25th through De­cember znd, a series of special preach­ing services was held at the CalvaryOrthodox Presbyterian Church ofMiddletown, Pa. The speaker for theseries was the Rev. Professor R. B.Kuiper who followed the theme "TheTruth" beginning with sermons on"What is Truth?", and "Thy Wordis Truth." The sermons were receivedwith enthusiasm and profit by thecongregation. Many strangers andmembers who had become careless intheir spiritual lives attended. Plans arenow under way for the holding ofa series of several Bible classes inpreparation for communicant churchmembership.

THE PRESBYTERIAN GUARDIAN

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