1
October 1926 A.D. Dr. J.
Gresham Machen Seen Through Eyes of Dr. Francis Landey Patton, former President
of Princeton Theological Seminary
Machen
as Seen By…, Part I
In 1926, J. Gresham Machen received
nomination to the chair of apologetics and ethics from the Board of Directors
at the Princeton Theological Seminary. In the normal course of things,
this nomination would have been routinely approved by the General Assembly as
it met later that same year. Machen, however, had previously opposed in
1920 the Philadelphia Plan for merging nineteen Presbyterian denominations into
a single federated body. He had published two books, The Origin of Paul’s
Religion (1920) and Christianity and Liberalism (1923), both of which presented
strong arguments against modernism and unbelief. In short, Machen had
become a very public voice raised against modernism, and so he had enemies.
A campaign of opposition was raised against his nomination and the matter
remained unresolved up until the reorganization of Princeton Seminary and the departure
of Dr. Machen and other faithful professors. In this brief series, we are
presenting a few of the articles which appeared in defense of Dr. Machen during
this troubling time.
Dr. Machen as Seen by Ex-President Patton.
[excerpted from THE PRESBYTERIAN 96.48 (2 December 1926): 13.]
[excerpted from THE PRESBYTERIAN 96.48 (2 December 1926): 13.]
There are few, if any, names that carry
greater weight in Presbyterian circles than that of Dr. Francis Landey Patton,
formerly president of Princeton University and Princeton Seminary, now living
in retirement in Bermuda. What he thinks of Dr. Machen’s fitness for the
chair to which the Board of Directors of Princeton Seminary has elected him is
made clear by the following letter received from Dr. Patton by Dr. William L.
McEwan, of Pittsburgh, Pa., which we are privileged to print. Some may be
disposed to look askance at Dr. Patton’s reference to “an amicable settlement
through a reasonable compromise,” but those who know Dr. Patton will not
suppose that he would regard any compromise as reasonable that was gained at the
cost of loyalty to truth. The fact that some have alleged that Dr. Patton
is not in full sympathy with the supporters of Dr. Machen gives added
significance to this letter. We quote it in full :
“My dear Dr. McEwan:
“I hope that, without seeming to be meddlesome,
I may, as a director of the Seminary, say to a fellow director, what I would
gladly say to the Board if it were possible for me to be present at their
approaching meeting.
“I purposely avoid any reference to the
painful controversy which exists within the Faculty, as being improper, in view
of the circumstances under which the Board will meet, and as out of place
because of my ignorance of all the facts which enter into the difficulties
referred to. But I cherish the hope that those difficulties may find an
amicable settlement through a reasonable compromise. I think that I may
be pardoned for having an interest in the fortunes of the Stuart Chair —
sentimental as perhaps you may regard it — and in the fitness of Dr. Machen,
who has been called to fill it as the successor of Dr. Greene. I
understand that some have called in question his fitness, but on that subject I
have not the slightest doubt.
“In considering this matter, it must be
remembered that what a man can make of himself depends largely on what God has
already made him, and that Dr. Machen began life with an endowment of a very
unusual nature. Besides that, he has benefited by superior educational
advantages. He is an assiduous student, has a wide range of information
and a commanding style. He is learned, logical and eloquent. He is
well-trained in all the departments of theological study, and is an
enthusiastic defender of the Confessional system of the Reformed Churches.
“The department of Apologetics covers a very wide area ; and it can hardly be expected that one who is about to enter upon the duties of a chair in this department should be as completely equipped for them, as a man of equal ability may be, who has already devoted some of the best years of his life to the department. The most that can be reasonably asked is, that a candidate for the chair shall have the qualities of mind that fit him for the work, a broad foundational preparation for it, an intellectual bent that will enable him to enter upon it with enthusiasm, and that these qualifications be revealed in some creditable work already accomplished. These conditions, I do not hesitate to say, Dr. Machen satisfies in a pre-eminent degree. They are manifest in his books, entitled Liberal Christianity and What is Faith? But Dr. Machen has given still more specific proof of his eminent fitness for the vacant chair.
“The department of Apologetics covers a very wide area ; and it can hardly be expected that one who is about to enter upon the duties of a chair in this department should be as completely equipped for them, as a man of equal ability may be, who has already devoted some of the best years of his life to the department. The most that can be reasonably asked is, that a candidate for the chair shall have the qualities of mind that fit him for the work, a broad foundational preparation for it, an intellectual bent that will enable him to enter upon it with enthusiasm, and that these qualifications be revealed in some creditable work already accomplished. These conditions, I do not hesitate to say, Dr. Machen satisfies in a pre-eminent degree. They are manifest in his books, entitled Liberal Christianity and What is Faith? But Dr. Machen has given still more specific proof of his eminent fitness for the vacant chair.
“In order to defend Christianity, one must
have a definite conviction in respect to what Christianity is ; and no man, I
think, is better acquainted than Dr. Machen is, with the current forms of
minimizing theology, which, in some respects, are the most insidious foes of
Christian faith, inasmuch as the gist of their teaching seems to be that the
fruits of Christianity will continue to flourish after the axe has been laid at
the roots of the true that bears them.
“But Dr. Machen has done specific work of a
very important kind in apologetic theology. Christianity exposes a large
frontier to the attacks of the enemy, and its defenders are called upon to
discuss the relations of science and Scripture, to say whether philosophy will
give us leave to believe in the Living God, and to meet the challenges of
history, when we are told that Christianity is only a developed Paganism.
“Some of our apologetes may be better versed
in science and others more widely read in philosophy, but in the department
which just now challenges the special attention of the apologete, Dr. Machen is
a master. The evidence of this is found in his book on The Religion of Paul ; and I confidently say
that any seminary in any part of the world might well be proud to claim the man
who wrote that book as a member of its faculty ; for whether measured in the
terms of learning or logic, it is unquestionably a great book.
“If I call this book the author’s ‘prentice
pillar’ in the House of God, I suppose that some will say I pay it a doubtful
compliment. But, on the contrary, in so doing I praise it for its
strength and beauty and more than that I see that house adorned with still
greater and more beautiful examples of Dr. Machen’s craftsmanship if in the
providence of God, he shall live long enough to fulfill the promise of his
youth.
Very sincerely yours,
Francis L. Patton
Bermuda, October 1, 1926.
[Commenting on Patton's closing note, it should immediately
come to mind that man knows not his time, since Dr. Machen died just over ten
years later, on 1 January 1937.]
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