J. Gresham Machen Bibliography

Perhaps few things are doing more today to weaken the power of the Church than these misguided efforts.

Dr. Machen’s Denver Sermon

FOR the information of my readers we are reproducing the exact text of news-summary of Dr. Machen’s sermon in the First Avenue Presbyterian Church of Denver, during the recent assembly. This is the only form in which the sermon was released to the press.

“SUMMARY EXTRACT FROM SERMON By J. GRESHAM MACHEN, Professor of New Testament in Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia. Preached in the First Avenue Presbyterian Church, Denver, Sunday Morning, May 29, 1932.

“According to the Bible, a minister is not, as is often supposed today, a mere promotion agent of a society of general welfare, and he is not a specialist in the investigation of the human phenomenon of religion, but he is a ‘steward of the mysteries of GOD.’ His duty is to make known the facts about GOD which GOD has revealed in His Word.

“Not only an individual minister but also a church is a steward of the mysteries of GOD. But the important thing about a steward is that he should be faithful. Is the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. a faithful steward of the mysteries of GOD?

“That question must be answered in the negative. The Presbyterian Church is not a faithful but an unfaithful steward today.

“Suspicion of that fact is naturally aroused by the secrecy and the discouragement of fair and open discussion which prevails in the councils of the Church. A treasurer who is afraid to let his books be seen is under suspicion. So also is a Church that checks investigation of its doctrinal witness. A secret trial of an evangelical minister has recently been conducted in the Synod of Pennsylvania. Such secrecy offends against the most elementary principles of liberty and fair play, and places the Presbyterian Church on a distinctly lower ethical plane than that which prevails in the world at large. A similar temper prevails in the administrative procedure of the Church. The really serious questions are covered up by a mass of verbiage, and the deep-seated unfaithfulness of the Church is being concealed.

“But gradually the truth is coming to light. It is becoming increasingly plain that the Presbyterian Church is dominated by a tendency which is hostile or indifferent to the deep things of the Christian religion.

“That tendency is represented by the Modernist document commonly called the ‘Auburn Affirmation’ which declares that the virgin birth, the bodily resurrection, the miracles of CHRIST, the substitutionary atonement are non-essential for the ministry, and which attacks vigorously the doctrine of the full truthfulness of the Bible.

“This Modernist document was signed by thirteen hundred ministers in the Church, and the position which it represents is dominant in the Church’s affairs.

“For example; the gentleman who seconded the nomination of the present Moderator of the Assembly is a signer of this Modernist Affirmation; and the same gentleman is a member of the present governing Board of Princeton Seminary, an institution which formerly, before its enforced reorganization in 1929, was the leading opponent of the Modernism that the Affirmation represents. Four out of eight ministerial members of the ‘Permanent Judicial Commission’ (practically the supreme court of the Church) are signers of the same Modernist document. So is the editor of the only official journal, The Presbyterian Magazine. So is the General Secretary of the Board of National Missions and so are six out of sixteen ministerial members of that Board. So is the ‘Candidates Secretary’ of the Board of Foreign Missions, who has the delicate and important duty of interviewing candidates for the foreign mission field and of encouraging them or discouraging them in their purpose. So also are many others high in the councils of the Church. There can be no doubt whatever about the fact that the entire corporate business of the Church is dominated by a tendency quite contrary to that for which the Church has historically stood.

“What shall be done under such circumstances by Bible-believing Christians in the Church? In the first place, they should face the facts and lay the facts before God in prayer. They should cease repeating in parrot-like fashion the untruth that ‘the Presbyterian Church is essentially sound.’ In the second place, they should insist on faithful stewardship. If the present Boards and agencies cannot be radically reformed, new Boards and agencies should be organized to propagate faithfully the gospel of the LORD JESUS CHRIST. The present condition of the Presbyterian Church is an offence against God. But the Spirit of GOD is all-powerful, and the darkest hour sometimes just precedes the dawn.”