THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN JOURNAL

Rev. Henry B. Dendy, D.D., Editor

Dr. L. Nelson Bell, Associate Editor
Rev. Wade C. Smith, Associate Editor

Weaverville, N. C.
Asheville, N. C.
.Weaverville, N. C.

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Mr. Chalmers W. Alexander
Rev. W. W. Arrowood, D.D.
Rev. C. T. Caldwell, D.D.
Dr. Gordon H. Clark
Rev. R. Wilbur Cousar,
Rev. B. Hoyt Evans
Rev. W. G. Foster. D.D

Rev. Samuel McP. Glasgow. D.D.

Rev. Robert F. Gribble, D.D.
Rev. Chas. G. McClure, D.D.
Dr. J. Park McCallie
Rev. John Reed Miller, D.D.

D.D

Rev. J. Kenton Parker

Rev. John R. Richardson,
Rev. Wm. Childs Robinson,
Rev. George Scotchmer
Rev. Robert Strong, S.T.D.
Rev. Cary N. Weisiger, III,
Rev. W. Twyman Williams,

D.D.
D.D.

D.D.
D.D.

EDITORIAL
One Reason
Enthusiasm

for Our Lack of

for the Councils

Yesterday, Today and

The

spectacle of church leaders from the iron

curtain countries being welcomed at the Evanston assembly of the World Council and given
places of responsibility in its work, the tour

churchmen under National Council

sponsorship are some of the reasons why many
Southern Presbyterians lack confidence in these
organizations under their present leadership.
of Soviet

Hungarian refugees denounced

Hun-

all five

WCC

as collaborators
garian delegates to the
of the Communists and specifically accused
Bishop Peter, the leading representative in the
delegation, of being in the employ of the de-

tested secret police. Information was laid before a Congressional committee to the effect
that Bishop Peter had lured his brother-in-law
from Cairo to Budapest, where he was then

Tomorrow

In reading D'Aubigny's History of the Reformation

a most interesting and rewarding
book
one is struck by the spontaneity with
which reaction to Romish superstition broke
out over all Europe at the same time. It becomes very clear that although God had chosen
Luther to lead, it was God and not Luther
who awakened the people from their medieval

slumbers.

century before, Huss had preached the gosa few people responded; but there was
no wide-spread enthusiasm, and Huss was
treacherously executed. Fifty years before Huss,
Wycliffe in England preached the gospel and
met with some evident success; but opposition
increased as he grew old, and when he died,
pel

and

his

movement

collapsed.

In contrast with these somewhat localized eflargely under the stimulus of one man,

executed.

forts

In spite of

all

of these things

came

a report

from the WCC's section on social questions expressing confidence that church leaders who
cooperate with

Communist regimes

are loyal to

Christ.

The spontaneous action of the Hungarians

when Nagy had his few days of power in ousting despised collaborators from places of
ligious leadership shows how fallacious
thinking was.

re-

WCC

There are

signs that

it is

at last

being realized

by some of the council leaders that you cannot

do business with any Communists whatsoever,
even with those who wear clerical garb. The
lesson is being learned terribly late. The effort
to establish a wider and wider front for the
has cost this organization dearly.

WCC

does not make for respect to be guiltv

of fatuous thinking. And that, to state it in
the kindest possible way, is exactly what the
It

Council leaders have been guilty of in their

eager desire to draw the
the Council deliberations.

PAGE

Red

religionists

R.

into
S.

when Luther sounded

the trumpet of justificaby faith, he found that nearly everywhere

people had been thinking the same thoughts.
Zwingli was beginning to preach in Zurich;
the sister of the King of France had learned
of grace; there were stirrings again in England
tion

no thanks to Henry VIII; the memory of

Huss still lingered in Bohemia; somebody in
Hungary had read the Scriptures; and even
in Italy, in addition to the Waldensians, there

were now longings and aspirations. This does

not detract from Luther's greatness; he was the
leader; but the Reformation was the work of
God, not of Luther.
Will God do anything like this for us today?
May we hope for a great outpouring of grace?

At various times faithful servants of the Lord

have arisen to call men to repentance. Their
work has not been in vain, for some people
have always responded. Jonathan Edwards and
George Whitefield, to mention evangelists of
an earlier day, saw the results of their labors.
But the results did not outlast their own lives.

THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN JOURNAL

There was no widespread, spontaneous outbreak of true religion. Are today's efforts also
one man, or
working indepen-

locally restricted to the efforts of

there evidence of God's

dently in many hearts?
is

Sober judgment forces us to admit that there

little evidence of any great reformation; and
yet on a smaller scale and within a narrower
area there seem to be independent effects of
God's power. Two instances, in fact.
is

the Southern Presbyterian

defeated a merger that

First,

cisively

Church dewould have

greatly diminished its testimony to the gospel.

This was not the work of any one man or any
small group. To be sure, there was a small
group opposed to union from the beginning;
but their highest expectations were to carry
one fourth of the Presbyteries. When to the
amazement of everyone, union was defeated by
a majority vote, when ministers and elders who
had no connection with the smaller group
voted against union, the hand of God was discernible above the hands of men. It was a

spontaneous and independent awakening.

perspective

spontaneous and independent. No group was

organized to defeat it. Possibly a group should
have been so organized, but it was not. The
result was produced by the desire of widely
scattered individuals to obey the commands of
God. The Scriptures plainly forbid the ordination of women, and the majority decided that
the church should obey.

arrived

at

and how can

changed

lives.

Life should also be lived in the light of a

present fact. It is not enough to accept Christ
as

the

Saviour from sin for He must also become

Lord of our lives. One of the tragedies of

life is that so many who name

name of Christ show so little evidence of
being new creatures in Him. This comes from

contemporary
the

accepting Christ as a theological concept but

failing to admit Him into the heart as the Lord
of daily living.

Life must also be lived in the light of coming

judgment. For the Christian this judgment is
past, having been executed on the Cross of

But

for all

others

its

certainty

G.H.C.

A Needed Perspective
Life should be lived in the light of eternity.
For the unbeliever this is impossible; for the
Christian it is often forgotten. How can such

is

matter of paramount import. Hell and judgment are no longer popular subjects but they
are realities and because they are, Christ died
for sinners.

In this need for living in a right perspective

time and eternity we find Christ at the
heart of the answer, His Cross the center of
its power and His living presence the pledge
of its everlasting hope.
to

L.N.B.

This action may be thought to be inconsequential; this does not have the conventional
trappings of a revival; but obedience to God

On the contrary, this

is never a trivial matter.
spontaneous resolve to conduct ecclesiastical affairs in accordance with God's explicit commands may be the herald of greater obedience
to come. And if so, one may in faith expect,
perhaps not a world-wide or even a nation-wide
reformation, but one may in faith expect God's
rich blessing to be poured out on the Southern
Presbyterian Church in the days to come.

it

Life should be lived in the light of a past

event. The greatest event of all history is that
which took place on the cross of Calvary. When
the Christ of Calvary becomes our Saviour then
time and eternity assume their proper places
in our thinking, planning and living and this
tremendous event becomes the focus of our

Calvary.
the proposal to ordain women
has been defeated. This action was even more

Now, second,

be

be maintained?

Sky-Pie
Anon

there echoes the fling of scornful deChurch and Christianity: "Pie in

the sky bye and bye."
Enough truth lies in
the solecism to invite study. When either desperate need of hungry men, or stark materialism, meets a caricature of the Faith, or thinks
to judge Christianity's true nature by its betrayal on the part of "nominal" Christians, one
can but sympathize on the one hand, and decry
fake Christianity, on the other. Yet either malevolence or plain ignorance lies at the base of
the criticism of the pie.
rision at the

Now

it

"...

true that the Scripture advises:

therewith to be content." It is also

is

The Southern Presbyterian Journal, a Presbyterian Weekly magazine devoted to the statement, defense, and propagation of the
Gospel, the faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints, published every Wednesday by The Southern Presbyterian Journal,
Inc., in Weaverville, N. C.
Entered

No.

as

50, April

second-class matter
10,

1957.

Address Change:
weeks after change

APRIL. lO, 1957

When
if

May

15,

1942, at the Postoffice at Weaverville, N. C, under the Act of March 3, 1879. Vol. XV,
Weaverville, N. C. Printed in the U.S.A., by Biltmore Press, Asheville, N. C.

Editorial and Business Offices:

not

changing address, please

sent

in

advance.

let

When

us

have both old and new address as far in advance as

send an address label giving your old address.

possible.

Allow three

possible,

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