29
March 1935. Prof. J.
Gresham Machen, the Mensch, adjudged guilty at trial.
The PCA Historians tell the
story at: http://www.thisday.pcahistory.org/2014/03/march-29-2/
The Strange Church Trial of a Spiritual Giant.
It all happened around seventy-seven years
ago. Back in March of 1935, Dr. J. Gresham Machen was before a church
court of his peers seeking to defend himself against the serious charges of
denying his ordination vows, disapproval of the government and discipline of
the church, advocating a rebellious defiance against the lawful authority of
the church, and we could go on and on in the charges leveled against this
spiritual giant. You would think that he was guilty of the most
aggravated doctrinal error or moral shortcomings. But in reality, it came
down to a single issue—that of refusing to obey the 1934 mandate of
the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. to cease and
desist from supporting an independent board of missionaries, of which
board he was the president.
The trial itself was a farce in every sense of the
word. Machen’s defense first tried to challenge certain members of
the judicial commission itself as biased, seeking to have them recuse
themselves, since at least two of these men had signed the theologically
liberal Auburn affirmation. That was denied. Then the question of
jurisdiction was argued, but that also was not sustained.
At the third session, upon hearing Dr. Machen declare
himself “not guilty,” the Commission ruled that certain matters were
out-of-bounds in the arguments of the defense case. Those included questions
which surrounded the existence of the Auburn
Affirmation, signed in 1924. They next ruled out any question concerning
the nature and conduct of the official Board of Foreign Missions,
which had prompted much of the problem when it gave its endorsement to the book
entitled Rethinking Missions.
Further, arguments stemming from the reorganization of Princeton Seminary and
the founding of Westminster Theological Seminary were also outlawed by the
commission. All of these were part and parcel of Dr. Machen’s defense,
since they provided the background of the origin of the Independent
Board of Presbyterian Foreign Missions.
All these rulings paled into insignificance, so to
speak, however, when we consider the last ruling of the judicial
commission. It stated that the legality of the Thirty-Fourth General
Assembly’s Mandate for the ministers, members, and churches to cease
supporting the Independent Board and only support the official Board of
Foreign Missions could not be questioned.
It was obvious that with all of these rulings, that
there was only one verdict which could come forth from this judicial
commission, and that was guilty. And so on this date, March 29, 1935, the
judgment of “Guilty” was rendered by this seven member Judicial Commission of
the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A. Appeals to the higher courts were
in vain, and J. Gresham Machen was suspended by the church.
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