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ARTICLES, ESSAYS, AND SERMONS BY JAMES McDOWELL RICHARDS

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ARTICLES, ESSAYS, AND SERMONS BY JAMES McDOWELL RICHARDS

Columbia Theological Seminary Decatur, Georgia 1972

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 72-87843
Copyright 1972 by Columbia Theological Seminary

CONTENTS

Foreword 9

Chronology of J. McDowell Richards 11

Reflections on Armistice Day 1940 17

Brothers in Black 1940 20

Christian Church in a World at War 1942 29

A Condemnation of Mob Violence 1946 35

Woodrow Wilson -The Christian and the Churchman 1956 36

God's Commandment for His People 1956 43

A Call To Civil Obedience and Racial Good Will 1957 49

A Prayer of Invocation 1957 53

The Strange Story of our Times 1958 54

The Relevance of the Gospel 1963 60

The Holy Spirit and the Church 1964 66

The Church and Its Ministry 1967 72

World Missions- A Christian Imperative 1969 76
The Theological Seminary As A Graduate Professional

School 1970 83

Change- and the Changeless 1972 87

FOREWORD

"Not farewell, but fare forth. The Golden Age is not in the past
but in the future."

As he had done so many times before, at his retirement dinner
Dr. J. McDowell Richards shared with the friends who had gathered to
honor him his insight into the deeper meaning of the occasion. His words
were a clear challenge to see a new vision of God's promises.

Because he has been so often prophet as well as teacher and
statesman, many have asked that the fruit of his study and experience be
gathered together. In response to these requests the Board of Directors of
Columbia Seminary asked Dr. Richards to make a selection of his ser-
mons, addresses, and papers for publication.

Those who have helped with the publication of this volume are
happy to present it to the Church as a tribute to Dr. Richards and a
continuation of his ministry.

CHRONOLOGY
James McDowell Richards

1902 November 6, Born Statesville, North Carolina to Charles

Malone Richards, D. D., and Jane McDowell Richards both
of whose families have been distinguished for many years in
the public life of South Carolina.

1917 Graduated from High School, Davidson, North Carolina

1918 Graduated McCallie School, Chattanooga, Tennessee and
entered college at age 15.

1918-1922 Attended Davidson College, Davidson, North Carolina, Edi-
tor Davidsonian, Member Y. M. C. A. Cabinet, Kappa
Alpha, Omicron Delta Kappa and Phi Beta Kappa; first
honor graduate Class 1922 with B.A. degree at age 19.

1922-1923 Attended Princeton University, M.A. degree in English Lit-
erature.

1923-1926 Attended Christ Church College, Oxford University as a
Rhodes Scholar; B.A. 1925 and qualified for M.A. awarded
1930.

1926-1928 Attended Columbia Theological Seminary, Decatur, Geor-
gia, B.D. 1928.

1928 July 31, ordained a minister of Presbyterian Church, U.S.
at Clarkesville, Georgia by Athens Presbytery.

1928-1930 Served as pastor at Clarkesville, Nacoochee and Helen,
Georgia.

1929 December 31, married Mary Evelyn Knight, Safety Harbor,
Florida.

1931 July 26, Birth of son, James McDowell, Jr.
1931-1932 Pastor, First Presbyterian Church, Thomasville, Georgia.

1932 Elected President and Professor of Practical Theology, Col-
umbia Theological Seminary, Decatur, Georgia at age 29.

1933 Honorary Doctor of Divinity, Davidson College.

1935-1949 Member General Assembly's Committee on Social and
Moral Welfare, later known as the Committee on Christian
Relations.

11

1936 Elected a Trustee of Davidson College. In 1940 he was
elected President of this Board and served continuously in
that capacity until 1966.

1937 Delegate to World Alliance of Reformed Churches, To-
ronto, Canada.

1938 December 10, Birth of a daughter, Mary Makemie. Com-
pleted first financial campaign.

1939 Became one of the Founders of the University Center in
Georgia with Agnes Scott College, Emory University, Geor-
gia Institute of Technology, the University of Georgia, the
Atlanta Art Association and Columbia Theological Semi-
nary as participating institutions. Served as Chairman of its
Council of Presidents in 1950 and 1965.

1940 Moderator, Atlanta Presbytery, Presbyterian Church, U.S.

1942 Completed second financial campaign.

1944 Completed third financial campaign.

An organizer and for some years a Director of the Southern
Regional Council with membership continuing until the
present.

1944 Member Editorial Council, which instituted publication of

Theology Today with membership continuing until the pres-
ent.

1946 April 10, birth of son, Charles Malone. Completed fourth
financial campaign.

1941-1950 Representative of the Presbyterian Church, U.S. on Execu-
tive Committee, Federal Council of Churches of Christ in
America. Vice President 1942-44.

1947 Elected to Board of Corporators Presbyterian Ministers
Fund, Philadelphia, a capacity in which he continues to
serve. President Presbyterian Educational Association of the
South.

1947-1949 Chairman, Executive Committee on Negro Work, Presby-
terian Church, U.S.

12

1948 Delegate to World Alliance of Reformed Churches, Geneva,
Switzerland. Moderator Synod of Georgia, Presbyterian
Church, U.S.

1949 A participant in the establishment of the Protestant Radio
Center (now Radio and Television) for which he has served
continuously as a trustee from that time until the present.

1950-1951 President of the Atlanta Christian Council.

1950 A member of the Constituting Convention of the National
Council of Churches.

1950-1951 Representative of the Presbyterian Church, U.S. on the Gen-
eral Board of the National Council of Churches.

1952 Completed fifth financial campaign.

1950-1956 Member Board of Church Extension, Presbyterian Church,
U.S.: Chairman Board of Church Extension, 1953-56.

1954 Delivered Abner McGehee Lectures, Alabama Bible So-

ciety, Montgomery, Alabama.

Moderator General Assembly, Presbyterian Church, U.S.

Honorary LL.D., King College.

Completed sixth financial campaign.

Member Board of World Missions, Presbyterian Church,
U.S. Chairman Committee on Candidates, 1960-1966.

Co-author Atlanta Manifesto.

Completed endowment Peter Marshall Chair of Homiletics.

President Georgia Council on Human Relations.

Sent as a representative of the Board of World Missions to
evaluate situation in the Congo after independence.

A leader in planning and organizing the Atlanta Theological
Association, a cluster consisting of the Candler School of
Theology, The Interdenominational Theological Center,
Erskine Theological Seminary and Columbia Seminary.

13

1955-

1956

1956

1957

1957-

1966

1957

1958

1959-1960

1961

1966-

1971

1967 Elected to Board of Directors Presbyterian Ministers Fund,
Philadelphia, an office which he continues to hold. Launched
second $5 million Campaign which passed $2 million by date
of retirement.

1 968 Edited Solio Deo Gloria honoring W.C. Robinson then retir-
ing from Faculty of Columbia Seminary.

1969 Delivered Elting Lectures, First Presbyterian Church, Flor-
ence, Alabama.

1971 July 1, retired after 39 years as President and by Board

action became President Emeritus of Columbia Theological
Seminary. In connection with his retirement, Dr. Richards
was honored in turn by Synods of Alabama, Florida, Geor-
gia, South Carolina, and Mississippi; Columbia Friendship
Circle, Women of Synod of Georgia, Students and Faculty;
and, on June 25 by an Appreciation Dinner at the Regency
Hyatt Hotel in Atlanta with several hundred friends present
from across the South.

1971-1972 Chairman of Davidson College Living Endowment Cam-
paign.

1932-1971 Under the leadership of Dr. Richards Columbia Seminary
added her present Library, the South Wing of Campbell
Hall, Georgia Hall, Florida Hall, 3 student apartment build-
ings, 13 Faculty Homes, the Athletic Field and Tennis
Courts, all present drives, walks and parking areas, and the
remodeling of Simons-Law Hall. The total cost of the build-
ings and improvements mentioned was approximately
$2,500,000. In the same period Mission Haven was erected
on the campus and the Seminary's endowment fund rose
from approximately ^300,000, against which there was an
indebtedness of more than $100,000, to over $5,000,000. The
Faculty was increased from six to twenty one full time mem-
bers plus six part-time and three visiting instructors. The
annual average enrollment of students quadrupled during his
administration.

14

mm

' ' !

REFLECTIONS ON ARMISTICE DAY

1940

This address was delivered before the Rotary Club of
Atlanta, Georgia in connection with its observance of Armistice
Day in November of 1940. In the light of the tragic history of
the years since that date, it makes melancholy reading. At the
same time, the challenge presented by the speaker and the hope
which he expressed are still applicable in today's world.

I

.t is with inevitable and irrepressible sadness that we celebrate
Armistice Day in the world of 1940. All of us here remember the thrill of
gladness which came to us on the November 1 1th which lies only twenty-
two years behind us. It is doubtful that there ever was, or perhaps ever will
be again, such spontaneous and whole-hearted joy among so many men as
on that fateful day. Whether the news of peace came to us on the actual
field of battle or in the tranquil surroundings of the homeland, it brought
to all alike a sense of relief from the crushing burden and horror of war; a
feeling of hope that a better world was about to be born. It is little wonder
that through succeeding years America has paused to celebrate the recur-
rence of this date.

Today we are confronted by a different world from that of which
we dreamed. On the surface of things there would appear to be little reason
to observe Armistice Day in 1940. The things in which we rejoiced in 1918
are all "gone with the wind." It would seem that those are not without
reason who speak of November 11th as "the lost holiday"; "the symbol
only of broken promises and blasted hopes." The millions who laid down
their lives in the first World War appear now to have died in vain, for
scarcely one of the ends which they sought endures today. The cessation
of hostilities which came then has proven to be in reality an "armistice"
rather than a "peace." Today the nations of Europe and of Asia are locked
in conflict more awful than the last. The very railroad dining car in which
the Armistice of 1918 was signed has this year been used for the signing
of another armistice, with the roles of victor and vanquished reversed, and
stands today in Berlin as a symbol of a different triumph. Our own country,
which had fancied herself secure regardless of what might come in Europe,
has within recent months passed a peace time conscription bill for the first

17

time in her history, and today arms herself with feverish haste against perils
which are all too real.

Yes, it would seem that this is one holiday which might better
be buried and forgotten, yet I make bold to suggest that this is not the case.
Armistice Day in other years has been a celebration looking to the past.
In this year, and in those which are to come, it should be an observance
pointing to the future. It has been a reminder of victory and accomplish-
ment, it must become a symbol of faith and of hope.

It is an easy thing in such a day as this to become disillusioned
and cynical. It would be better for us to remember that it is not ideals
which have failed; it is men who have betrayed ideals. The building of a
better world is a more difficult task today than it was in 1918, but it is a
task which never came more fully as a divine imperative than now.

Today we are feverishly preparing for war. We hope and pray
that the preparation will be enough, yet there is no thoughtful one among
us who does not know that the danger of conflict is great. It is well that at
such a time we should take the long look; that, while not closing our eyes
to the ugly realities of our present situation, we should also keep them open
to what lies beyond the immediate future. However long the present strug-
gle may be, the day will come when it too must end. It is to that day that
our thoughts should be directed. Armistice Day has been a celebration of
a peace that we thought had come. Let us make it a promise of a real peace
that is to be.

The ideals which stirred the hearts of Americans in 1917 are
seldom spoken of today without a smile of disenchantment, or a sneer of
superior wisdom. We were fighting a "war to end war", we were crusaders
seeking to "make the world safe for democracy. " Let men deny it or deride
as they will, those were the purposes which moved our people to undivided
effort, and those were the ends for which thousands of our men were willing
to die. There are pages enough in our history which are not glorious, but
America has no reason to be ashamed of the motives which animated her
people during those days of conflict.

The tragedy of it all is found in what came after the first Armi-
stice. This is no time for recriminations and for bitterness. Recognizing
that there was folly and blindness among the post-war leaders of Europe,
let us also admit that there was blindness and folly in America as well. We
dreamed that we could live in isolation from other nations, and we have

18

awakened too late from our dreaming. It is possible that if America had
entered The League of Nations the history of the world would not have
been different. On the other hand, it is possible that American strength and
American freedom from the bitter heritage of European History might
have opened the way for a new and permanent structure of peace while
there was yet a chance. At very least we could know today that we had
made an honest effort. Under the circumstances, America cannot escape
a very large measure of responsibility for the disaster which has come.
Truly we won the war, and lost the peace. Hence it must needs be in
humility and in penitence of spirit that we celebrate Armistice Day in 1940.

He must be bold indeed who would prophesy what lies before our
country and our world in the immediate future. Perhaps suffering and
anguish of spirit will come to us as they have to other nations. It may be
that America too must know a baptism of blood. Certainly we have not
deserved our privileged position more than others. However that may be,
I dare to prophesy today that, in the end, tyranny and oppression will not
prevail. Ours is a moral universe. The very stars in their courses fight
against greed and falsehood, hatred, violence and inhumanity. The ideals
for which thousands of men were then willing to give their all may seem
to be dead and buried. It is our faith that they shall have a glorious
resurrection.

Let us not forget that our day owes a debt to, and has received a
responsibility from those who died in the War of 1914-18. It is for us to
rekindle in our more complex world the torch which, flung from their
"failing hands", has all but been extinguished. It is the torch of democracy
and of freedom; it is the torch of humanity and of brotherhood; it is the
torch of justice and of ultimate peace. Let us live and sacrifice, as they
sacrificed and died, toward the coming of the day when

"the war drum throbs no longer, and the
battle flags are furled,
In the Parliament of Man, the Federation
of the World"!

19

BROTHERS IN BLACK

1940

On October 14, 1940, Dr. Richards preached this ser-
mon as retiring Moderator of Atlanta Presbytery at a meeting
held in the West End Presbyterian Church of Atlanta. His theme
was suggested by scornful remarks concerning Negroes which
had then recently been made by the late Eugene Talmadge, who
was at that time Governor of Georgia, which were headlined and
reported in the local press. The sermon was printed by order of
Atlanta Presbytery for distribution among its member churches.
Later that year it was published and circulated by the Southern
Interracial Commission and it was reprinted in 1946 by the
Southern Regional Council, the successor to that Commission.
The circulation of the sermon in these various editions amounted
to approximately 50,000 copies. The extent of the injustices cited
in the sermon and the fact that even the comparatively mild
demands made in it were considered bold and startling in the
1940's are enough to remind us that changes have come with
amazing rapidity since the Supreme Court's 1954 Ruling on seg-
regation in public education. Enough injustices remain, however,
to make the spirit and the central thrust of "Brothers in Black"
significant for our day.

"Where is. . . . thy brother?"

Xhis query comes to us out of one of the oldest and most famil-
iar stories of Scripture. It is the second question recorded in the Bible as
having been asked by God. In the third chapter of Genesis we find it stated
that, when man had first made the choice between good and evil and had
fallen into sin, God called him in his place of hiding in the Garden saying,
"Where art thou?" In the succeeding chapter comes the story of Cain and
Abel in which the first-born son commits murder. Then it is that God
addresses a second question to man and asks: "Where is Abel, thy
brother?"

The sequence of these questions might almost be regarded as

20

symbolic, so constantly do they recur in the lives of individuals and of our
race. God is continually calling to man in his sin and his need, to stab his
conscience wide awake with the inquiry, "Where art thou?" and it is in the
honest facing of that question that salvation begins. Man cannot face it
honestly without coming to realize that he stands in danger of judgment.
So is it with the second question. It is the logical completion of the first in
so far as Christian faith is concerned, and often provides itself the real
answer to it. The position and the condition of the Christian's brother are
always a revelation of the former's own state in the sight of God.

The relationship between true faith and brotherly love is sug-
gested again and again in Scripture. Nowhere is it more strongly empha-
sized, however, than in the First Epistle of John, which is at once a message
insisting upon belief in the Lordship of Jesus Christ and a clarion call for
that belief to make itself manifest in love of one's fellow man. We are
faithful for the most part in preaching the necessity of that faith, but too
often we forget to emphasize the test of true belief: "And this is his com-
mandment, that we should believe on the name of his son Jesus Christ, and
love one another." "If a many say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he
is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he
love God whom he hath not seen?" Significantly John went on to speak of
Cain, the murderer who had insolently asked, "Am I my brother's
keeper?", as an example of all that Christians ought not to be.

"Where is thy brother?" The question is one which has no limits
in so far as the Christian is concerned. It comes home to us with telling
force concerning those of our own households; it holds an especial meaning
for us as we think of the members of our particular churches; it needs to
be faced in our thought of all men. For this little while, however, I want
to ask that we limit it to a very specific group and face it, not on a basis
of self justification, but as the facts require us to answer it before the throne
of God. "Where is thy brother in black?"

It need not be said that there is a very special reason for us to
ask that question here today. We have seen the racial issue raised in our
own section in forms which give cause for grave concern and for deepest
shame. In several of our states high officials have used the racial issue to
further their own political ends without regard to the ultimate results of
their action in human misery. Insulting and humiliating statements con-
cerning the Negro have been made in various public places and even in the

21

Senate of the United States. We cannot estimate how much has been done
to aggravate prejudices and to increase evils which were already sore
enough. I am not undertaking to discuss politics here. I speak today be-
cause Christian principles and spiritual interests are at stake. These actions
of political leaders are but the natural outcome of a racial philosophy
which, though contrary to all Christian principles, is all too commonly held
by the man in the street and too little opposed by the man in the pew. The
Church of Jesus Christ has not given the leadership which her Faith de-
mands of her in making this kind of philosophy impossible.

It need hardly be argued in this company that the Negro is indeed
a brother of the Christian. He holds that place first of all by creation.
Science and Scripture are apparently at one in holding that all branches
of the human race had a common origin. Black and yellow and white are
brothers by creation. Like it or not, we cannot escape the facts. Beyond
this, however, these dark skinned neighbors are many of them "brothers"
in the strictest scriptural and theological sense. They are believers in Christ
as Lord and Savior; they are members of His Church; in the lives of many
of them the unmistakable fruits of the Spirit are manifest. With the same
right as we, they pray, "Our Father, which art in Heaven," and by the same
Adoption they are received into His family.

Where is thy brother in black? In a physical sense it is easy to
answer that question. He is with us here in America, 13,000,000 strong.
Approximately 10,000,000 of his race are with us still in the South in spite
of the rapid migration of the Negro to the Northern States in recent years.
He came as an unwilling guest, and he is here through no fault of his fathers
or his own. This brother was brought to our shores by force for our selfish
profit. Never has there been a clearer visitation of the sins of the fathers
upon children than in what has followed the slave traffic and the institution
of slavery in this country. It brought the Civil War with its useless slaugh-
ter of half a million men; it caused the impoverishment of the South; it
left us a legacy of hatred and of prejudice. For all of that the Negro is here.
He is a neighbor to us all, and our contacts are without number. It is the
Negro maid and cook who contribute to the comfort of our homes, and
we entrust them again and again with the dearest possession of our
hearts our children. To the eternal credit of the Negro let it be said that
this confidence is not betrayed, but that almost invariably children so
entrusted are guarded with care and devotion. It is the Negro laborer who

22

tills a great part of our fields and harvests our crops; the Negro janitor who
cares for our schools and our churches; the Negro songster who stirs us
with the strains of jazz or utters the deep longings of our souls in some
well loved spiritual. Where is thy brother in black? For better or for worse,
he is all about us here today, and his life is inextricably interwoven with
ours.

When we turn from the physical aspects of racial distribution,
however, we may best answer the question concerning our brother by
saying that he is in need. That simple statement is an accurate description
of almost every aspect of his life. The Negro as a race is sorely in need of
material things. Two-thirds of all Negro wage earners are found in two low
paid occupations, farming and domestic service. Seventy-five percent of all
Negro farm operators are tenants, and the ratio of farm ownership among
this people is about the same today as it was thirty years ago. Often the
Negro who does the same work as a white person receives much smaller
pay for his services. Even in days of national emergency the Negro is
virtually excluded from employment on many defense projects. On the one
hand he is refused jobs because he is not a skilled laborer; on the other he
is denied admission to training schools because it is said that there is no
place for Negroes in skilled positions. As in so many other areas of life,
he faces a vicious circle from which there seems to be almost no means of
escape. Sadly enough, the handicaps imposed upon him in the North have
perhaps been even greater than in the South. Efforts have been made in
places to take away from the Negro many of the opportunities by which
he once earned his livelihood, as in the passage of laws in cities forbidding
him to cut the hair of white people, and in the replacement of Negroes by
whites as hotel employees. Often even the college graduates of the race can
secure only menial tasks at a rate of pay which would hardly be adequate
for the most ignorant field hand. While our failures in the South may not
be worse than those of other sections, the fact that the Negro proportion
in our population is much higher makes the situation more serious for us.
Booker Washington was right when he said, "You cannot keep a man in
the ditch unless you are willing to stay there with him." Low income for
Negroes means lower purchasing power as well, and this in turn means less
wealth for the whites. This is unquestionably one of the reasons why the
per capita income of thirteen Southern States in 1942 stood at $539 as
against an average of $852 per capita for the country as a whole.

23

Inevitably this brother in black stands in need of all those things
which money can buy. We rejoice today in the fact that here and there in
our cities housing projects are being undertaken for blacks as well as for
whites, yet what has been done is only the barest beginning in our cities
and has not even touched the rural areas. Our government in its housing
projects has fixed upon a house $3,000 to $4,000 as necessary to provide
minimum accommodations for an American family, but the average value
of houses occupied by Negro tenants is $500.00. If the value is slightly
higher in some of our cities, one has only to drive through Negro sections
to know how miserable are the quarters in which most of these people live.
What wonder that health is poor! What wonder that crime breeds! In-
deed, as one considers the circumstances under which these people live, the
wonder is not at their failures but at the fact that so many among them
manage to maintain self-respect and to live with some degree of decency.
Sadly enough most of these buildings one would hardly call them
homes are owned by white landlords who are often more concerned to
secure high profits than to provide for the needs of others.

Again, this neighbor whose skin is dark is in need of medical aid
and of health service how can it be otherwise when his economic circum-
stances are those described? There is one hospital bed in this country for
every 150 whites, but the Negro must get along with one for each 2,000 of
his people, yet the illness rate for Negroes is 90 per cent greater than for
urban white residents, and 50 per cent greater among rural people. In 1940
the Negro death rate was higher than that for whites by about 35 per cent,
while infant mortality for every thousand Negro children in 1940 was 73
as compared with 43 among the same number of whites. The death rate
from tuberculosis is from two to five times as high as within our own race,
and the prevalence of the social diseases among them is well known. All
of this means not only suffering and misery among these people and a
tremendous economic loss for our section, but inevitably it means that our
own health is endangered. How can it be otherwise when there are more
than a million Negroes engaged in domestic service in our homes? The
illness which begins in the Negro tenements is by no means certain to stay
out of the white mansion. Here, as elsewhere, it is unmistakably true that
"he that saveth his life shall lose it.' 1

Where is thy brother in black? He is in need of justice. Justice is
far short of that love about which John speaks and of that service to which

24

the Gospel calls us, yet it represents a level to which we have not yet begun
to attain. I need not remind you that in our courts of justice the Negro,
for the most part, stands a far greater chance of conviction than a white
man against whom the same evidence is produced, and that the punishment
meted out for conviction in the one case is likely to be far heavier than in
the other. A learned discourse could not say more on this subject than did
the aged Negro who remarked: "Justice may be blind, but she ain't entirely
color blind. " It is a fact which must be confessed with shame that police-
men in many of our Southern cities show little respect for the civil or
human rights of Negro prisoners. In one of our cities in a recent year a
dozen Negroes were killed by officers not one of whom, so far as is known,
was officially reprimanded, much less tried for the killing. Mistreatment,
abuse, and third degree methods are all too common as we have been
reminded so forcefully in recent months by events in prison camps of our
own state. It is common practice in our courts for crimes committed
against Negroes by Negroes to receive exceedingly light sentences, however
severe may be those imposed for offenses against whites. The evident
suggestion is that a Negro's life and safety and happiness are so much less
important than those of whites that no severe punishment is needed; that
crime is a matter of little moment so long as it stays within black borders.
We rejoice today that lynching is apparently on the way out, but the
records show that within the past fifty years 5,000 persons, the majority
of them being black men, many of them probably innocent of any crime
have been murdered in this mockery of civilized procedure. Even now it is
an event worthy of note if any year passes without a number of lynchings.
We have seen the excesses of Nazis against the Jews and mark it down as
evidence that an entire nation is degenerate and depraved, but somehow
we forget to feel a like indignation when equally helpless individuals here
at home are done to death.

The Negro needs justice in the field of education. The laws of
Southern States, decree that equal but separate schools shall be provided
for white and Negro children. Somehow we have forgotten to note that
word "equal." A recent study showed that in eleven Southern States the
public school expenditure per child enrolled in 1939-40 averaged $44.27 for
the white child as against $19.18 for the Negro. In one state it was $65.96
against $15.40; in another it was $47.34 against $1 1.39; and in many coun-
ties the disproportion is greater, with even some of the money allocated

25

by the state for colored schools being used for the white instead. In that
county of Georgia from which came the author of Uncle Remus, the public
school expenditure per white child in a recent year was $102.39 and for the
Negro child $4.62. Nor can this be justified by saying that the Negro pays
less in taxes. The very genius of our republic is that taxes levied on those
who have much shall be used to assist those who have little; it is well for
such states as Georgia, whose taxable income is low, that this should be
the case. Public Schools were established in the first place not for those
who had wealth, but for the benefit of the poor child who had none.
Moreover, the Negro often does not receive benefits even in proportion to
what he does pay.

Other opportunities are denied this race in a similar way. We
need not go far afield to find that this is true. So many Negro mothers are
compelled to work for a living that their children are often left to care for
themselves. Inevitably they sorely need facilities for wholesome play and
amusement. What does our own city do in the face of this need? Atlanta,
according to the 1940 census, had a population of 302,288 within its city
limits, of whom 104,154 were Negroes. To provide for the recreation of
its people the city maintains twenty principal parks, containing approxi-
mately 1,300 acres, valued at something like $3,000,000. But listen to this:
it maintains exactly one park of fourteen acres, valued at $41,000 for
Negroes. The consequence is that black children must play in the streets
or in places which breed vice and crime. Have we forgotten One who said:
"But whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believeth in me,
it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck and that
he were drowned in the depths of the sea"? In like manner the Negro is
all too frequently overlooked when such improvements as street paving,
sewers, lights, library, and hospital facilities are voted.

The Negro is in need of the ballot. I am aware that I arouse anger
when I say this, but I am convinced that the principle is basic to Christian-
ity and to democracy. A slogan of the American Revolution was "No
taxation without representation," yet we have utterly failed to embody this
precept in practice. The Negro who can meet the same reasonable require-
ments as his white neighbor should have the same privilege in voting. This
would not mean Negro domination. There is no single state in the South
where the Negro makes up as much as half of the population. In only two
states was more than 40 per cent of the population colored in 1940. If we

26

are fearful that the Negro voter would be an easy victim of demagogues,
let us consider our own record carefully before casting stones. In areas
where the Negro now votes, his record in voting for men of ability and
character compares favorably with that of the other race. When we enfran-
chise the Negro, it will mean that at last we shall have some right to be
concerned about the privileges of minorities in other lands, and that our
belief in the innate worth of all men will become a practice instead of a
mere theory.

But enough of that. He is also in need of kindliness and of
understanding, this brother in black. How little do we know of the constant
humiliation and of the haunting fear which is visited upon this race. I doubt
whether any other people under heaven would have been so slow to bitter-
ness under the circumstances. Richard Wright's best seller of a recent year,
Native Son, is a terrible picture in fiction of what these things can do to
the mind and soul of a man. But we need not go to fiction to learn that
these things exist. A fine Christian Negro woman whom I know must enlist
the aid of her white employer in buying her clothes, because, though she
has the necessary money as well as character and culture, she can find no
one who will serve her when she goes to a department store. A Negro
college student confides that when he and his sweetheart want to go down
town, they walk instead of riding the bus, though the distance is long. The
reason that though they pay the same fare, when the white section is filled
up, some white man is likely to order the Negro couple out of their seat,
and the boy cannot stand the humiliation of that. A Negro minister says
that he and his wife go to town on separate street cars. Why? Because
always there is danger that some white man will insult his wife, and like
any man of proper feelings he will resent that. Yet, if he protests, he may
provoke violence which could result in injury to innocent members of his
race. Hence, if his wife must be insulted, he decides that it must be in his
absence. These are simple but eloquent illustrations of what goes on day
by day in our midst.

You will note that in all of this I have not faced the question as
to whether the Negro race is inferior to the white. That is beside the point.
I would, however, pause to remark that Scripture does not, as some main-
tain, furnish grounds for believing that the Negro is condemned to inferior-
ity and servitude. The curse which Noah pronounced on one of his sons,
as related in the ninth chapter of Genesis, was his own, and there is no

27

indication it was approved of God. Indeed, as one reads the story it is hard
to escape the conclusion that the sin of Noah was greater than that of Ham.
No nation has ever made a more rapid advance in an equal length of time
than the Negro has since slavery. He has shown that, given an opportunity,
he can do far more as a race than he has done. But this also is beside the
point. The white is unquestionably the privileged race, whether it be supe-
rior or not, and superior privilege, according to Christ, imposes a greater
obligation to service. "To whomsoever much is given, of him shall much
be required. " "He that is greatest among you, shall be your servant. " Did
our Lord mean what He said? If so, our greater opportunities only mean
that we must render a larger service. If so, it must be our purpose to see
that the Negro is given every opportunity to develop in mind and in soul.
No other attitude in race relationships can bear the light of Christ's teach-
ings.

Finally, this brother in black stands in need of the Gospel in all
its fullness. It is true that nearly six million of his race are members of the
church, but too often the religious leadership of the race is poorly prepared
and religion itself is little more than emotionalism tinged with superstitu-
tion. Deeply religious by nature, this tenth man in America needs Jesus
Christ. The White Church has not begun to fulfill its task in the evangeliza-
tion and the Christian education of the Negro. We need to awaken to our
responsibility in this matter, but most of all we need to realize that most
Negroes today are not going to turn to Christ unless they see that white
people really believe the faith which they profess. Russia outlawed real
religion largely because the life of churchmen in that nation had manifested
so little of the spirit of Christ. What tragedy if our black brother should
some day turn his back on Christ because of what he sees, or fails to see,
in us!

It is time that we were facing the issue. It is time for some
preaching on Christian duty in race relations, my brethren of the ministry.
It is time for intelligent, courageous leadership in church and community
life, my brethren of the laity. It is time for all of us, as we gather for
worship, to take seriously the words of our Lord: "If thou bring thy gift
to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against
thee; leave there thy gift before the altar and go thy way; first be reconciled
to thy brother and then come and offer thy gift." Has he anything against
us today or not, this brother in black.?

28

THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH IN A WORLD AT WAR

1942

In 1934 the General Assembly of the Presbyterian
Church, U.S., took what was then the highly controversial step
of establishing a Committee on Social and Moral Problems. Dr.
Richards served as a member of this committee and of its succes-
sor, the Committee on Christian Relations, from 1935 to 1949.
In this capacity he wrote, or participated in writing, a number
of the Committee Reports. His paper on THE CHRISTIAN
CHURCH IN A WORLD AT WAR was prepared shortly after
America's entry into World War II and, with only minor amend-
ments, was adopted by the General Assembly at its meeting in
1942.

k^tark tragedy has engulfed mankind. Today, almost literally,
the entire world is at war. Violence, bloodshed, destruction and death have
brought anguish of body, of mind and of spirit to multitudes of our fellow
men. Our own nation has been drawn into war and today we too find
ourselves compelled to play a part in the grim struggle which for so long
we watched with detachment. Never have the nations more sorely needed
the Gospel of Christ; never has there been a greater need for the Church
and its members to seek in prayer for an understanding of the part which
God would have us to play in His world.

The Christian is at once a citizen of earth and a subject of the
Kingdom of Heaven. His allegiance and his obligations are two-fold and
it is his duty to place these in a proper relationship to one another. That
man owes a real duty to his earthly government was taught by our Lord
when he said, "Render therefore unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's;
and unto God the things that are God's." The earthly duty is subject to
testing in the light of the heavenly, for Caesar too is subject to God, but it
is a duty none the less.

It is not the task of the Church to state in detail the obligations
which the citizen of today must fulfill in loyalty to his country. The Church
can only teach the reality of the Christian's duty to the State and urge that
this be faithfully performed; it must also insist upon the liberty of individ-
ual conscience in determining what this implies. The Church must never

29

lose sympathy for the Christian who conscientiously objects to war, and
must defend his right to this position, so long as he recognizes the obliga-
tion owed to his government. Only as he believes that his service to his
country must be of a different nature, and as he seeks to perform that
service with the same sacrificial devotion as the man who lays down his
life on the field of battle, can the position of the pacifist be justified. On
that basis it must be justified and defended.

In the minds and consciences of the vast majority of Christians
today our country is engaged in a necessary war, and for this reason they
gladly give their treasures and their lives for its prosecution. The achieve-
ment of ultimate victory must never be identified with the bringing in of
the Kingdom of Christ, yet it is difficult for us to escape the conclusion
that our hopes for a just world order, the preservation of democracy and
the freedom of the Church are at stake in this conflict. Under such circum-
stances our duty appears to be clear. In serving his nation it may rightly
be expected of the Christian that he will do more not less than his fellow-
citizens who own no allegiance to Christ.

It is with the function of the Church itself in a world at war, and
with the duty of a Christian to his God that this report is concerned. It is
of vital importance to mankind that the Church should continue to be the
Church and not an adjunct of the State. There are some things which the
Church cannot do for the world. There are many things which she can and
must do within her own membership if she is to be true to the spirit and
truth of her Lord, and only as she does these can she expect His blessing
to rest upon her work. For the most part these duties are so obvious that
there can be little disagreement upon them in principle, yet it is only by
constant vigilance and by prayerful endeavor that we shall attain any mea-
sure of success in their performance. We would lay these duties humbly
but earnestly upon the hearts of Christians in general and of our own
Church membership in particular.

1. We must remember that the mission of the Church is spirit-
ual. The nature of the Gospel is not altered by the fact that war has come,
nor has God's revealed will suffered change. The services of the Christian
sanctuary are held for the glory of God; not for the promotion of national
ends. The time which is set for the worship of God and the exposition of
God's word is too little at best. That time should be used for its divinely
ordained purposes; not for the recruiting of soldiers and workers or for the

30

furtherance of patriotic endeavors. The part which religion has to play in
building the morale of the nation is of vast importance. War has increased
rather than diminished the need of our whole population for the healing
ministries of the Gospel. Moreover the Church has the privilege and duty
of caring for the spiritual needs of these who are serving in our armed
forces. The Church, however, will best serve both the nation and individu-
als as it lifts the eyes of men from their own world and fixes them upon
God.

2. In time of war we must maintain within the Church the sense
of a brotherhood that transcends racial divisions and national strife. If
Christendom had maintained a truer unity within her branches and a closer
brotherhood across international lines, war might have been averted. Only
by providential circumstance are we members of the Church in the United
States; let us never forget that we still belong to the Church o/Jesus Christ.
Christians among the peoples of Japan, of Germany, and of Italy, pray,
"Our Father" with the same right as we. We must maintain a conscious-
ness of our communion with them. Unlikely though such an occurrence
may be, it should be true that if a Christian from a hostile nation should
come into one of our Churches he would not find in our services that which
would be an obstacle to his worship, but would know himself at home
within a circle of Christian fellowship and love. God's house must still be
a house of prayer for all people. When the conflict is ended, it is to the
church that we must look to assuage hatred and bitterness among peoples
now divided, and to restore the shattered unity of our race. To allow
ourselves to be separated now, in spirit or in thought, from fellow Chris-
tians will inevitably militate against that end.

3. The Church must strive to promote a spirit of love rather
than of hatred. It is not an easy thing to love one's enemies. It will be
increasingly difficult to do so as suffering and sorrow come to our homes,
and bitterness increases. Hatred and vituperation are to be deplored even
in secular thought. They have no place in the sermons and prayers of the
Church whose Lord has said, "Love your enemies, bless them that curse
you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully
use you and persecute you." It is right and proper that we should pray for
our Country, for our leaders and for the men of our armed forces. Inevita-
bly we hope for victory, though it is better that we should pray for the
triumph of justice and of righteousness. Let us not cease to pray earnestly

31

also for the highest good of those with whom we are at war. How else shall
we be able to pray. "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors'"?

4. In the midst of conflict, let us keep continually in mind the
fact that the spirit of war is not the spirit of Christ. For most Christians
today warfare seems to be definitely the lesser of two evils, but they must
not be content while war is necessary. This war would not have come if
statesmen and nations had been more far-sighted and more Christian be-
fore and after 1918. We must develop within the Church and make effective
in a society a Christian conscience in the light of which a just and lasting
peace will be possible. It is not too soon for us to begin preparing for the
armistice which will come some day. Christians should be studying the
nature of the peace which they desire. It is perhaps too early for us to draw
blueprints of the world order which will then be possible. It is not too soon
to insist that the principles which prevail in the writing of the peace shall
be those of justice and of charity rather than of hatred and of vengeance.
We must declare our conviction that the formation of a society of nations,
in which America will assume her proper responsibility will be necessary
if the problems of the post-war world are to be solved and a permanent
peace made possible. As Christian citizens we should be studying now the
part which we can play in the establishment of an international authority.

5. Today, more than ever. Christians are called upon to minis-
ter to human need and to the relief of suffering. So long as warfare contin-
ues we can barely touch the fringes of the vast suffering which this conflict
has entailed. When peace comes, however, the need will continue for years
and our opportunities to do something about it will be multiplied. Nothing
could do more to heal the wounds of the nations and to encourage the spirit
in which a just and lasting peace would be possible than for such aid to be
prompt, generous and sufficient. Certainly a ministry to the needs of our
enemies, would be a manifestation of Christian love which the world sorely
needs. The Church should begin ev^n now to prepare herself for this task
in the name of him who said. "Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of the least
of these, my brethren, ye did it unto me."

6. In war as in peace the Church must not cease to denounce
sin and to proclaim the necessity of repentance. We are grateful that in
setting aside the first day of January in this year as a time of special prayer
our President specifically requested that we ask forgiveness for our na-
tional sins. There is reason to fear that there has thus far been little evi-

32

dence of any real penitence in the spirit of our people. America has as-
sumed all too easily that, because there is much that is evil in the ideologies
and the methods of our opponents, our nation must have the approval of
God resting upon it; we have failed to face the blackness of our own sins
and to realize that America also has deserved the wrath of God.

America is not guiltless of blame for the coming of the present
war. All too often we have refused to face our responsibility for the welfare
of other nations and have sought to enjoy peace, safety and prosperity in
selfish isolation. In our internal life, evil has been tolerated to a point which
has endangered our national existence. The worship and work of the
Church have been and are neglected by the masses of our population. The
observance of the Christian Sabbath had become largely a thing of the past
even before the war, and now, under the guise of national defense, we are
in danger of giving up what remains of this Holy Day. The life of the home
has decayed in America while our divorce rate continues to be a world
scandal. Crimes of violence have almost ceased to be a cause of concern
to the public. The liquor industry has been allowed to flourish and is
apparently protected by our government from the curtailment and sacri-
fices required of many constructive business enterprises. Impurity and
prostitution have continued until even the physical effectiveness of our
military forces, to say nothing of the lives and characters of others, has
been endangered. Many political and economic evils remain uncorrected.
Injustices inflicted on racial minorities continue to embitter and the need
of the under-privileged in all remains largely unmet.

In the face of such conditions it is not enough for us glibly to sing,
"God bless America." It is time to remember the words of Scripture. 4 Tf
I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." America had
no reason to believe that she would be spared the suffering brought by war.
We had no reason to expect that military success would inevitably be our
lot. Victory, we trust, will come to us in the mercy of God, but we must
confess that we have not deserved it. Rather do we need to pray, "God be
merciful to us, sinners", and to cleanse our national life of public and
private evils which cry to high heaven against us. There is need for the
Church of Jesus Christ to confess its own failures and to purify its own
life that it may more effectively preach repentance to others. Only as our
penitence is real shall we have the right to claim God's promise, "If my
people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray,

33

and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from
heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."

7. Finally, let us face the fact that, the conditions of our day
constitute a clarion call for the Church to dedicate herself with new devo-
tion to primary and essential tasks to Evangelism, to Christian Education
and to Missions, and to the achievement of brotherhood. If the Church in
America had been more effective in winning men to faith in Christ as
Saviour and obedience to Him as Lord, sin would not have prevailed so
widely in our national life. If Christian people had been willing to sacrifice
for Christ a fraction of that which they must now spend for destruction, it
is likely that war could have been avoided. Some time before our country
was involved in war, and while our President was trying with little success
to avert conflict he said to a group of ministers, "I have learned that where
there is no Christian conscience there is no basis on which you can appeal
for peace." It would be well for us to remember that fact. It is an idle thing
to ask that men act as Christians when they do not believe in Christ. The
Church cannot declare too strongly to her members the fact that they are
to be servants of Christ in social and corporate relationships as well as in
their personal lives. Before she can preach these things to others, however,
she must first bring them to a saving knowledge of Christ.

We cannot be sure what the world will be like after the war. We
do know it will not be what it has been in the past. For at least a generation
society will be in a state of transition and tremendous economic and politi-
cal changes will take place. In all probability this period will likewise be
marked by great movements in the religious world. It will be a time of
moral and spiritual danger but also of tremendous opportunity for the
Church. If the totalitarian powers should be victorious the Church will not
die, but her work may well have to be done under such circumstances as
Christians have not known since the days of the Caesars. If, as we expect,
the Allied Powers are triumphant, it is likely that the doors of missionary
opportunity will be flung wide open and that, if Christians are ready, they
may enter in to win whole nations for Christ. In either case, the present
hour is one in which the Church must gird herself as never before for the
tasks which lie ahead. Let us preach the Gospel of Salvation in season and
out of season. Above all, let us renew our faith and rededicate our lives to
the service of the living God.

34

A CONDEMNATION OF MOB VIOLENCE

1946

In July of 1946, in a particularly shocking crime, four
Negroes two of them women were shot down in cold blood at
an isolated spot in Walton County, Georgia. Although motives
for the crime were not established, it was thought that three of
the victims were killed simply because they had witnessed the
murder of the first and could have given testimony. No one was
even indicted for the crime. The resolution printed here was writ-
ten by Dr. Richards, presented by him to the Synod of Georgia,
and adopted by that body at its meeting in Albany, Georgia
during September, 1946.

B

>e it resolved that the Presbyterian Synod of Georgia in regular
annual session expresses its shame and horror at the murder by a mob last
July of four Negroes in our state, and its concern that up to the present
time none of the perpetrators of this deed has been brought to trial. We
would earnestly petition the Chief Executive of our state and all constituted
officers of the law to continue the search for the guilty parties until they
are found, and would call upon those in authority to be vigilant and faithful
in guarding against the repetition of such occurrences. We would declare
our unalterable opposition to such acts of mob violence as a violation of
the laws of our state, a threat to the processes of organized constitutional
government, a breaking of God's Sixth Commandment, "Thou Shalt Not
Kill," and a mockery of the spirit of Christ. With penitence we would
recognize our own share of responsibility for the condition of society which
has made such acts possible in the past, and dedicate ourselves to combat
the spirit of hatred out of which such deeds arise.

Be it further resolved that copies of this paper be sent to Gover-
nor Arnall, to Governor-Elect Talmadge, and to representatives of the
press.

35

WOODROW WILSON-THE CHRISTIAN AND THE CHURCHMAN

1956

During his year of service as Moderator of the General
Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, U.S., Dr. Richards was
invited to deliver an address concerning President Woodrow Wil-
son in connection with a celebration of the Centennial of the
latter 's birth in Staunton, Virginia. Wilson was born in the
manse of the First Presbyterian Church of Staunton while his
father was serving as pastor there during the year 1856. This
message was presented as a part of the morning worship of that
Church on Sunday, January 8, 1956.

I

t is right and proper for us to remember famous
men particularly if these are also good men. Certainly both of these
adjectives can be applied to the man whose memory we honor
today Woodrow Wilson. This twenty-seventh President of the United
States was. according to his former pastor. Dr. James H. Taylor, "a man
of great spirit and purpose; a man of great intellectual power and moral
idealism: a man who was a seer and a prophet of peace, a leader of his
people.'" The facts of history support his statement.

The birth of a child is a momentous event. As F.W. Boreham
wrote years ago: "When a wrong wants righting, or a work wants doing,
or a truth wants preaching, or a continent wants opening, God sends a baby
into the world to do it. That is why long ago, a babe was born in Bethle-
hem.'*

And so today we pause to celebrate the birth of a baby boy. one
hundred years ago. in the manse oi' this First Presbyterian Church of
Staunton. This was an event of tremendous significance not merely for the
community but for the nation and for the world.

Some of its significance we can see very clearly today. The full
and ultimate meaning of the event, however, will only be seen with the
passing of additional years or centuries. It is because of our hopes for the
future, of our dreams that war will ultimately be banished from the earth,
that it is important for us to remember Woodrow Wilson and to re-
emphasize the ideals and the purposes for which he gave his life.

It is not our purpose this morning to trace the history of this life

36

in detail. Assuredly Woodrow Wilson was one of the great leaders whom
this nation has produced; indeed his name deserves to be included in the
comparatively small list of the truly great men of history. This statement
is not made because he was successful. In a very real sense Wilson was a
failure as were Micah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and many another of the proph-
ets and the seers of history. There is a success that shrivels the soul because
its ends are unworthy; there is a failure that glorifies because it is linked
up with the ongoing purposes of God; because it is on the side of righteous-
ness and truth and peace. Such failure is always apparent rather than real;
temporary rather than permanent.

Woodrow Wilson was a scholar of ability and a political thinker
of great clarity and force. His printed works are themselves a worthy
monument to his name. He was an aducator of distinction, making contri-
butions both as a highly stimulating teacher and as a University President
of ability and vision. In the political arena he was, both as governor of New
Jersey and as president of the United States, a leader of such force, hon-
esty, and wisdom as to make him worthy of the title, statesman. The record
of domestic legislation enacted during his presidential administration is a
remarkable one, entirely apart from party considerations. It was legislation
based upon his long study of the American Government and motivated by
his concern for freedom, for human rights, for truth and for justice. Most
of that legislation has endured. It can hardly be doubted that even if by
what he called the irony of fate war had not come during his administra-
tion, this man would still rank as one of our great presidents.

It was as a world statesman, however, that Woodrow Wilson
made his chief contribution. At the time of his death an English newspaper
editor remarked that here was a "school-teacher who for a little while had
the world as his classroom. " Well, the world has yet to master the lesson
which he sought to teach. With shame we must acknowledge that our own
nation was unprepared for it. There are those among us who believe that
if the United States had not deserted his cause, that if our people had
entered the League of Nations, that body might have succeeded where it
eventually failed. A strong League of Nations might well have averted
World War II, with all its tragic aftermath. We cannot be sure. At least
we would have the satisfaction of knowing today that we had tried. If the
League had failed in spite of our best efforts we would have a better
conscience than we can now possess for the considerations which kept us

37

out of its membership were essentially selfish and unworthy. But that is
past. It is the future which concerns us now. The need for some such
Society of Nations as that which this man proposed becomes clearer with
every passing year but the task of making it effective is vastly more difficult
than it was in 1919. We must make the best use that we can of the United
Nations organization, and labor for the day when it can become a really
effective instrument for peace and for justice among the nations. The
machinery may be altered and improved, but the ideals which Wilson set
before us are lasting.

What was the secret of this man's life? Where did he acquire his
love for learning and for truth? What was the source of his concern for the
rights of the individual and his confidence in democracy as a form of
government? Who taught him his devotion to duty, his dedication to jus-
tice, his passion for peace? Whence came his unwillingness to compromise
when he believed a principle to be involved, and his willingness to sacrifice
himself for a cause? The answer is found in the Christian Religion and in
the Christian Church.

Wilson's background is familiar to us all. He was descended
from Scottish and Scottish-Irish Presbyterians. His ancestors were of mar-
tyr stock. They were men and women who feared God and therefore feared
no man. They were people who counted no price too great for the right to
worship God in freedom of conscience.

Out of that kind of stock he came; in a Presbyterian manse he
was born, the son of a pastor of this church. That father. Dr. Joseph R.
Wilson was later for thirty-four years the Stated Clerk of the General
Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, U.S. and served as its Moderator
in 1879. Woodrow Wilson's family background was one of faith, of learn-
ing, of simple but genuine piety, and of devotion to God's Word and Work.
As in every truly Christian home, the element of discipline was not lacking
but the reality of love was supreme. It is hardly possible to overestimate
the debt which this man owed to his father and mother. He himself bore
eloquent testimony to it and to the love which he had for his parents. His
was a worthy heritage, but what a man inherits is not enough. It could be
said of Wilson, as he himself said of Robert E. Lee, that "he was an ideal
combination of what a man inherits and what he may make of himself."

One may catch a reflection of this man's early home, and sense
the importance attached by him to family religion from an address which

38

he delivered in Philadelphia in 1904. "Religion" he said, "is communicable
. . . aside from the operations of the Holy Spirit only by example. You
have only to ask yourself what is the effect of a religious profession on the
part of a man who does not lead a religious life ... If those who profess
it are the only ones we live with, and they fail to live it, it cannot be
communicated except by some mysterious grace of the Holy Spirit Him-
self. So that no amount of didactic teaching in a home whose life is not
Christian will ever get into the consciousness and life of the children. If
you wish your children to be Christians, you must really take the trouble
to be Christians yourselves/' These principles he sought to embody in his
own home and family life.

As would be expected in one of such training, Woodrow Wilson
was a man who placed one book The Bible above all others. The fact
that he was one of the great masters of English prose style in our century
is not to be explained apart from his familiarity with that pure well of
English undefiled the King James Version. He himself declared that a
knowledge of this book is essential to any writier who wishes to attain a
style that is vigorous in its simplicity. More than this, he knew that the
Bible is essential as the answer to man's spiritual need. Holding up the
Bible in a chapel talk at Princeton he declared: "This is the only guide of
life which really leads the spirit in the way of peace and salvation."
However hard the day, he made it his practice not to retire without first
reading a portion of Scripture. By such use he wore out three Bibles and
upon his knees he daily communed with God.

A great deal of this man's political theory and practice was based
upon the Bible. Democracy is never really strong apart from faith in God.
The Scriptures were described by Wilson as "the Magna Charta of the
human soul." Writing to the men of our Army and Navy in 1917 he
declared: "The Bible is the word of life. I beg that you will read it and find
this out for yourselves. You will find it full not only of real men and
women, but also of things you have wondered about and been troubled
about all your life. The more you read it the more it will become plain to
you what things are worth while and what things are not; what things make
men happy loyalty, right dealings, speaking the truth, readiness to give
everything for what they think their duty, and, most of all, the wish that
they may have the real approval of the Christ, who gave everything for
them and the things that are guaranteed to make them un-

39

happy selfishness, cowardice, greed and everything that is low and mean.
When you have read the Bible, you will know that it is the Word of God,
because you will have found it the key to your own heart, your own happi-
ness, and your own duty."

Quite naturally, in these words about the New Testament, this
man bore testimony also to his faith in Jesus Christ as his Lord and
Saviour. He was not ashamed to be known as a Christian. His first public
confession of Christian faith was made when he was 16 years of age at a
service in the humble chapel of Columbia Theological Seminary, then
located in Columbia, South Carolina, where his father was at that time a
professor. Incidentally, it must have been his attendance upon his father's
lectures and his reading in the seminary library which helped develop his
strong and intelligent Christian convictions. When Wilson returned to Col-
umbia as President of the United States and entered again the simple
chapel in which he had worshipped often as a boy he said: "I feel as though
I ought to take off my shoes. This is holy ground. I have never heard
greater speaking in my life than I heard from that rostrum."

Seldom has any man in prominent place spoken more impres-
sively of what Christ meant to him than Wilson did when visiting Raleigh,
North Carolina in 1919. Speaking in connection with the presentation
there of a portrait of Stonewall Jackson, he had little to say about that
leader as a military genius, but emphasized instead his deep faith and his
sincere Christian character. "I do not understand," he there declared,
"how any man can approach the discharge of the duties of life without faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ."

"Christianity," he said in one of his best known essays (When a
Man Conies to Himself) "has liberated the world not as a system of ethics,
not as a philosophy of altruism, but by its relevation of the power of pure,
unselfish love. Its vital principle is not its code but its motive. Love, clear-
sighted, loyal, personal is its breath and immortality. Christ came not to
save himself assuredly, but to save the world. His motive, his example, is
every man's key to his own gifts and happiness."

There are those who make such professions but who attach too
small an importance to the church. It was not so with this man. Woodrow
Wilson became a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Columbia,
South Carolina, during the summer of 1873. To the end of his life, and
wherever he went, he was faithful as a member in the support of the work

40

and the worship of his church. During his years at Princeton he was elected
and ordained a ruling elder. When he came to Washington he did not allow
the duties of office to alter his attitude or to change his practice of faithful
attendance at the worship services of his own congregation.

When as President he assisted in laying the corner-stone of the
Central Presbyterian Church his church-home in Washington he bore
this significant testimony.

"A place of worship is in my mind a place of individual vision
and renewal. I do not see how any thoughtful person can be conscious that
he sits in the presence of God without becoming aware not only of his
relationship to God, as far as he can in this life conceive it, but also of his
relationships to his fellow-man. How a man can harden his heart in the
exclusiveness of selfishness while he sits in a place where God is in any
degree revealed to him I cannot understand.

"I believe that every place of God is sanctified by the repeated
self-discovery which comes in the human spirit. As congregations sit under
the Word of God and utter the praise of God, there must come to them
visions of beauty not elsewhere disclosed. Even the family is too little a
circle. The congregation is a sample of the community. There is revealed
to a man there what it is his duty to be and to do.

"Therefore I, in looking forward to the privilege of worshipping
with you in this place, shall look forward with the hope that there may be
revealed to me, as to you, fresh comprehension of duty and privilege."

Such was his attitude toward public worship. Of private prayer
he had said: "I do not see how any one can sustain himself in any enterprise
of life without prayer. God is the source of strength to every man, and only
by prayer can he keep himself close to the father of his spirit."

Woodrow Wilson believed profoundly in the vital importance of
the Church's mission in the world. He felt that its task and its place were
primary, and that apart from the truths which it declared, the foundations
of our government could not endure. During his first administration at
Washington he accepted an invitation to visit and address the Potomac
Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church. U.S. After words concerning his
father and the latter's long service to that Church, he said: "When I think
of the great bodies of opinion which sustain the affairs of the world, it
seems to me that the heart and nucleus of them is the principle of Christian-
ity, and that therefore the conservation of the great fountain of all that is

41

just and righteous is one of the most important things conceivable, infi-
nitely more important than the things which those of us do who attempt
to take some part in administering the external affairs of the world." Such
was the genuine humility of the man who held our highest public office,
but who thought of himself first of all as a servant of God.

What wonder that such a man was concerned for liberty, for
justice and for peace! What wonder that he would not compromise a
principle! What wonder that even in those last sad years of his life, his
hopes destroyed, his dreams for a League of Nations rejected by his people,
his faith in the ultimate victory of his cause was not shaken! "Do not
trouble about the things we have fought for," he said to a friend shortly
before the end of his life. "They are sure to prevail. They are only delayed.
And I will make this concession to Providence it may come in a better
way than we proposed."

The greatness of this man is explained by his character. Imper-
fect he undoubtedly was; mistakes he undeniably made, and for them paid
dearly; but the loftiness of his ideals, the ultimate Tightness of his goals,
and the unselfishness of his motives shine forth more brightly today than
ever. In that "noble failure" there is inspiration for us all.

I close with words from Wilson's last published article, "The
Road Away from Revolution", which appeared in August 1923. They are
as fresh and as timely today as when he penned them:

"The sum of the whole matter is this, that our civilization cannot
survive materially unless it be redeemed spiritually. It can be saved only
by becoming permeated with the spirit of Christ and being made free and
happy by the practices which spring out of that spirit. Only thus can
discontent be driven out and all the shadows lifted from the road ahead.

"Here is the final challenge to our churches, to our political
organizations, and to our capitalists to everyone who fears God or loves
his country. Sahll we not all earnestly cooperate to bring in the new day?"

42

GOD'S COMMANDMENT FOR HIS PEOPLE

1956

This Sermon, prepared by Dr. Richards as Retiring
Moderator of the 95th General Assembly of the Presbyterian
Church, U.S., was delivered by him at the opening of the 96th
General Assembly in Montreat, N.C., May 31 , 1956.

I John 3:23 "And this is his commandment, that we should
believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he
gave us commandment. "

Xhe Lord's day had come again in Ephesus. The Christians of
the city were gathering according to custom for prayer, for praise, and for
the preaching of the Gospel. This time there was a particular sense of
expectancy permeating the group; a subdued excitement which could not
be mistaken. It had become known that the Apostle John, the well-loved
and now ancient disciple of Jesus Christ was to be present and that, in all
probability, he would be preaching his last sermon. Already the signs of
his approaching end had become evident, and it was clear that his remain-
ing days on earth were few. Surely in this valedictory message there would
be great truths set forth which no believer could afford to miss.

At last the great moment arrived. The old man, now too weak
to walk, was borne in and placed before the assembly. His hair was snowy
white and his face radiant with something of the light of another world.
When the time came and he had risen to speak, however, he delivered no
lengthy discourse, but only said, "Little children, love one another", lifted
his hand in benediction, and was done.

So runs a familiar story concerning the last days of the disciple
whom Jesus loved. It is in keeping with another tradition, related by Jer-
ome, who said that in his later years John was accustomed to repeat again
and again the same injunction, "Little children, love one another", until
some of the believers became weary of it and asked, "Master, why do you
always say this?" "Because, he replied, "it is the Lord's commandment,
and if only it be done, it is enough."

43

The traditions mentioned accord well with the writings of John
and we may accept them as an accurate clue to the spirit and the emphasis
of his later ministry. It is well for us to remember, however, that this man
had not always been characterized by sweetness and light. It was not for
nothing that his Lord had given to him and his brother James the name,
"Boanerges" "Sons of Thunder". These were men of emotions so strong
that they wanted to call down fire from heaven upon the Samaritan villag-
ers and to consume them, because they would not receive their Lord. It
was this same John who forbade a man to cast out devils in the name of
Christ, because he followed not with the disciples. A man of enthusiasm,
of passion, of temper, he must quite evidently have been. The change
wrought in this disciple by Christ was doubtless as great as that in Peter,
though we often forget that fact. John was no man of patience and compas-
sion in the beginning. It was the transforming power of Christ, and the
sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit which made of him the Apostle of
Love.

For this reason one may doubt the full correctness of the tradi-
tion concerning John's last message. He would not have preached the
obligation without pointing to the power by which it might be performed.
If he was accustomed to repeat the words, "Little children, love one an-
other," it was to those who knew the Gospel and had accepted Christ as
their Lord and Saviour. Their obligation was implicit in their faith. This
is the note which recurs again and again in the First Epistle of John, and
which is stated in our text:"And this is his commandment, That we should
believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he
gave us commandment."

Saving faith in Jesus Christ was the heart of John's message as
it was of all the New Testament. Unless the Christian life begins with that
it does not begin. The uniqueness of Christ's place as the Son of God, the
fact that God's love manifested itself in the giving of his Son, the good news
that the "blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin", these are truths
essential to his writing and the presupposition of all his exhortations. A
decisive act of faith is essential to the righteousness of life which is empha-
sized throughout John's epistle, and to the abiding work of love.

The literal translation of the Greek phrase used here is not "be-
lieve in the name" but believe the name" of his Son Jesus Christ. Dr. B.F.
Westcott says that it is equivalent to "believe as true the message which

44

the name conveys". The full title "His Son Jesus Christ" is itself a com-
pressed creed. In the word, Son, we find suggested both the Deity of our
Lord and the love of God the Father. In the name, Jesus, we are reminded
of the perfect humanity of the Master. In the title, Christ, we find implicit
the divine mission for which he was appointed and the nature of his atoning
work. It is a title which finds in Him both the fulfillment of the past and
the promise of the future.

Here as always, the concept of faith set forth is not one of intel-
lectual acceptance along but also of vital commitment. The salvation of-
fered to man in the New Testament is the gift of God. Justification is by
faith and by faith alone. The desire of the Christian is to "be found in him,
not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is
through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith".
At the same time, the New Testament knows nothing of faith divorced
from life. Dr. Charles Hodge has suggested that we may understand the
word "believe" more accurately if we write it, "be-live" that is to base
our life upon Christ as Lord and Saviour. If our lives give no evidence that
he is at work in us, that fact is itself an indication that we do not truly
believe.

It is a futile thing for a man to say to a doctor, "I believe in your
ability to cure my disease, but I will not follow your prescription". It is
idle for one to declare to a candidate for office, "I believe in you as a leader
but I cannot go to the polls to vote". It is mockery for one to assert his
belief in democracy and then to avoid the discharge of his duties as a
citizen. So is it meaningless for a person to declare his faith in Christ and
to disregard the precepts of the Master in his attitudes and his actions.
Belief in Christ implies that we will love him. Because it issues in love for
him, faith will inevitably lead, John says, to the keeping of his command-
ments. The commandment which he emphasizes here is that in which all
other commandments concerning our fellow men are summed up it is
that we should love one another.

John's mind was turning to that upper room where only the
eleven are left with their Lord. The shadow of the cross is upon Him. Only
a little while ago he has girded himself with a towel, taken a basin and
washed the disciples' feet. "A new commandment I give unto you", he
says, "that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one
another".

45

What was there new about this commandment? The Old Testa-
ment had said, "Thou shalt love they neighbor as thyself." Yes, but there
are occasions when we do not love ourselves very much, times when we are
sick and ashamed of ourselves, and would be rid of our own personalities
if we could. When Christ said, "As I have loved you" he made this a new
commandment because he gave a completely new and different standard.
The love of Christ utterly pure, absolutely unselfish, determined to seek
and to save which was lost, not counting the cost, willing to endure the
cross, praying forgiveness for those who nailed him to the tree that is our
standard now. It is this new commandment of Christ that John is empha-
sizing.

New Testament scholars will not need to be reminded that the
word which is here used for love is "Agape", not "Eros'". This word
describes a love which is an expression of character, determined by will and
not a thing of spontaneous emotion. In this sense love' is the willing
communication to others of that which we have and are: and the exact
opposite of that passion which is the desire of personal appropriation. We
cannot always direct our emotions; we are not equally attracted to all men,
but we can assuredly will that which is good for all men: we can unstint-
ingly give of ourselves for their welfare.

How much we need to heed this command in the church today,
and how much the world needs to see this kind of love in us! Tertullian
reports the people of his day as saying in wonder: "Behold how these
Christians love one another ... for they are even prepared to die for one
another". Men have not been speaking thus about Christians in our day.
Sadly enough, they have had little occasion to do so. We rejoice that the
days of denominational strife and enmity have so largely passed: yet there
is still need for improvement in the relationships between denominations.
The Churches need increasingly to see themselves not in the competitive
relationships of the business world, but as members of the same family; as
cooperating to win the world and not competing to win the few in one
community while multitudes elsewhere go unreached. We must learn to
love and understand one another so well that we can present a common
front to the world. The differences among us should increasingly be those
of organization only, as we plan and work together in affection, in trust,
and in a common loyalty to Christ.

Our primary responsibility here is for conditions within our own

46

Church. We have been passing through days of controversy and debate.
Great issues have divided us, and still there are many points on which we
are not agreed. In loyalty to conscience and to duty we must bear our
witness to truth, as God gives us to see the truth. When differences arise,
however, we need to remember the limitations of our own wisdom, and to
respect the motives of those who, with equal sincerity, are constrained to
take a different view. It is very easy in our debates for tempers to become
strained; for resentment to be aroused; for pride and a determination to
carry the day for our side to displace charity and good will. "Little chil-
dren, love one another". "Put on therefore as God's elect, holy and be-
loved, a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, long suffering;
forbearing one another, and forgiving each other, and let the peace of
Christ rule in your hearts."

The spirit which is needed in our Church courts is needed also
in local churches. Sadly enough, there is never a year that does not find
some congregations divided within themselves by differences between good
men. Party is set against party, one individual is alienated from another,
and bitterness prevails. Church quarrels are always a reproach to the name
which we bear and a hindrance to the work of Christ. Let us remember
that "love suffereth long and is kind, love envieth not, love vaunteth not
itself, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil".

In the spirit of love must be found also the solution of our social
problems. Our section, and to some extent our Church, is torn today by
the question of racial relationships. It is not likely that we shall soon agree
on all of the steps which must be taken. On one point we can agree. No
policy can be right which is not based upon love and upon an honest desire
for the good of our brethren black or white.

The man of any race who accepts Christ is a child of God and
the brother of every believer. No policy or attitude based upon hatred,
scorn, a desire to humiliate, or a willingness to keep any other person from
attaining his fullest development can be in accord with the mind of Christ.
As Christians, we need to be much in prayer that we may understand the
will of God and that we may be given the grace to obey. "This is the
message which we heard from the beginning, that we could love one an-
other . . . . If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar;
for he that loveth not his brother, whom he hath seen, how can he love God
whom he hath not seen?"

47

In love is the motive which will lead us to a new concern, for the
needs of the suffering, the sorrowful and the needy about us. We have not
begun to do what we should for the widows, the fatherless, the displaced,
the needy and the suffering of the world.

In love, too, is the only power which can send us out in a great
forward movement of Evangelism and Missions both at home and abroad.
It is true that the new commandment of Christ was directed especially to
the relationship between those who were already his servants. By implica-
tion, however, it deals with our obligation to all men. Christ died for all.
In every individual we see a soul in need of Him: one, who, by his grace
and through his redeeming power, is potentially a child of God. If true love
is inconsistent with closing our hearts to the physical needs of men, how
much less can it be reconciled with indifference to the spiritual state of
those who are perishing because they have not the bread of life.

We rejoice in the rapid growth of our Church in recent years; we
thank God for that which has been accomplished on our mission fields. At
best, however, we have scarcely touched the fringe of that which is possible
for us and demanded of us. We have not begun to labor as we ought, we
have not in any real sense sacrificed for Christ, we have not understood
what it is to love. We need to come again to the foot of the cross, to see
the broken heart of God in Christ, to catch something of the passion of
him who loved us and gave himself for us. In penitence and in devotion
we are called to dedicate ourselves anew to the fulfillment of His Great
Commission. Constrained by his love, forgetting our differences, united by
his Spirit, we must move forward in the work to which he has called His
people.

"And this is his commandment, that we should believe on the
name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us com-
mandment. " Lord, we believe. Help Thou our unbelief. Lord, we do love.
Teach us to love, in fulness and in truth!

48

A CALL TO CIVIL OBEDIENCE AND RACIAL GOOD WILL

THE ATLANTA MINISTERS' MANIFESTO

1957

The years which have followed the 1954 decision of the
Supreme Court that segregation in public education is contrary
to our Constitution have been a time of testing for the South. The
fall of 1957 was a time of great agitation and of increasing bitter-
ness in Georgia and in Atlanta. There was much talk in high
political circles of closing the public schools rather than to see
them desegregated. Various means were being taken to intimi-
date or to punish those who dared speak out for justice. Under
the leadership of Dr. Herman L. Turner, then Pastor of the
Covenant Presbyterian Church of Atlanta, a small group of min-
isters came together to discuss the crisis. Dr. Richards was ap-
pointed to frame a statement for publication and produced what
was to become known as the Atlanta Ministers' Manifesto. This
paper, with minor alterations, was signed by 80 Atlanta minis-
ters many others would have signed if time had permitted gen-
eral solicitation and appeared over their signatures on the front
page of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Sunday, November
3, 1957. It was widely reported and generally applauded in the
press of the nation. The Manifesto does not, and did not, pretend
to be a full statement of what Christian Faith requires of us in
racial relationships. Nevertheless, it set up a standard to which
men of good will could rally, and marked a turning point toward
racial justice in the South.

J hese are days of tremendous political and social tension
throughout our entire world, but particularly in our nation and beloved
Southland. The issues which we face are not simple, nor can they be
resolved over night. Because the questions which confront us are in so
many respects moral and spiritual as well as political, it is appropriate and
necessary that men who occupy places of responsibility in the churches
should not be silent concerning their convictions.

The signers of this statement are all ministers of the Gospel, but
we speak also as citizens of Georgia and of the United States of America.
We are all Southerners, either by birth or by choice, and speak as men who

49

love the South, who seek to understand its problems, and who are vitally
concerned for its welfare. In preparing this statement we have acted as
individuals, and represent no one but ourselves. At the same time we
believe that the sentiments which we express are shared by a multitude of
our fellow-citizens, who are deeply troubled by our present situation and
who know that hatred, defiance and violence are not the answer to our
problems, but who have been without a voice and have found no way to
make their influence effective.

In presenting our views for the consideration of others we can
only speak in a spirit of deep humility and of penitence for our own
failures. We can not claim that the problem of racial relationships has been
solved even in the churches which we serve, and we are conscious that our
own example in the matter of brotherhood and neighborliness has been all
too imperfect. We do not pretend to know all the answers. We are of one
mind, however, in believing that Christian people have an especial respon-
sibility for the solution of our racial problems and that if, as Christians,
we sincerely seek to understand and apply the teachings of our Lord and
Master we shall assuredly find the answer.

We do not believe that the South is more to blame for the diffi-
culties which we face than are other areas of our nation. The presence of
the Negro in America is the result of the infamous slave traffic an evil
for which the North was as much responsible as the South. We are also
conscious that racial injustice and violence are not confined to our section
and that racial problems have by no means been solved anywhere in our
nation. Two wrongs, however, do not make a right. The failures of others
are not a justification for our own shortcomings, nor can their unjust
criticisms excuse us for a failure to do our duty in the sight of God. Our
one concern must be to know and to do that which is right.

We believe that the difficulties before us have been greatly in-
creased by extreme attitudes and statements on both sides. The use of the
word "Integration" in connection with our schools and other areas of life
has been unfortunate, since to many that term has become synonymous
with amalgamation. We do not believe in amalgamation of the races, nor
do we feel that it is favored by right thinking members of either race. We
do believe that all Americans, whether black or white, have a right to the
full privileges of first class citizenship. To suggest that a recognition of the
rights of Negroes to the full privileges of American citizenship, and to such

50

necessary contacts as might follow would inevitably result in intermarriage
is to cast as serious and unjustified an aspersion upon the White race as
upon the Negro race. Believing as we do in the desirability of preserving
the integrity of both races through the free choice of both, we would
emphasize the following principles which we hold to be of basic importance
for our thought and conduct:

1. Freedom of speech must at all costs be preserved. "Truth is mighty
and will prevail." No minister, editor, teacher, state employee, business
man or other citizen should be penalized for expressing himself freely, so
long as he does so with due regard to the rights of others. Any position
which can not stand upon its own merits and which can only be maintained
by silencing all who hold contrary convictions, is a position which can not
permanently endure.

2. As Americans and as Christians we have an obligation to obey the
Law. This does not mean that all loyal citizens need approve the 1954
decision of the Supreme Court with reference to segregation in the public
schools. Those who feel that this decision was in error have every right to
work for an alteration in the decree, either through a further change in the
Supreme Court's interpretation of the law, or through an amendment to
the Constitution of the United States. It does mean that we have no right
to defy the constituted authority in the government of our nation. As-
suredly also it means that resorts to violence and to economic reprisals as
a means to avoid the granting of legal rights to other citizens are never
justified.

3. The Public School System must not be destroyed. It is an institution
essential to the preservation and development of our democracy. To sacri-
fice that system in order to avoid obedience to the decree of the Supreme
Court would be to inflict tremendous loss upon multitudes of children
whose whole lives would be impoverished as a result of such action. It
would also mean the economic, intellectual and cultural impoverishment
of our section, and would be a blow to the welfare of our nation as a whole.

4. Hatred and scorn for those of another race, or for those who hold a
position different from our own, can never be justified. It is only as we
approach our problems in a spirit of mutual respect, of charity, and of good
will that we can hope to understand one another, and to find the way to a
cooperative solution of our problems. God is no respecter of persons. Every

51

human personality is precious in His sight. No policy which seeks to keep
any man from developing fully every capacity of body, mind, and spirit can
be justified in the light of Scripture. This is the message of the Hebrew
prophets as it is of Christ and His disciples. We shall solve our difficulties
when we learn to walk in obedience to the Golden Rule: "Therefore, all
things, whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do ye even so to
them, for this is the law and the prophets. "

5. Communication between responsible leaders of the races must be
maintained. One of the tragedies of our present situation is found in the
fact that there is so little real discussion of the issues except within the
separate racial groups. Under such circumstances it is inevitable that mis-
understandings will continue and that suspicion and distrust will be encour-
aged. One of the reasons that extreme measures have been so often pro-
posed or adopted by groups within both races is found in the fact that those
who are most concerned have seldom faced the issues in a situation where
there could be a free exchange of ideas. We believe that a willingness on
the part of white leaders to talk with leaders of the Negro race, and to
understand what those leaders are really seeking for their people is neces-
sary and desirable. An expressed willingness on our part to recognize their
needs, and to see that they are granted their full rights as American citi-
zens, might well lead to a cooperative approach to the problem which
would provide equal rights and yet maintain the integrity of both races
upon a basis of mutual esteem and of free choice rather than of force.

6. Our difficulties cannot be solved in our own strength or in human
wisdom. It is appropriate, therefore, that we approach our task in a spirit
of humility, of penitence, and of prayer. It is necessary that we pray
earnestly and consistently that God will give us wisdom to understand His
will; that He will grant us the courage and faith to follow the guidance of
His Spirit.

To such prayer and obedience we would dedicate ourselves and
summon all men of good will.

52

A PRAYER OF INVOCATION

1957

The offering of a prayer before the playing of the Star
Spangled Banner at many athletic contests is a practice which
seemed to arise spontaneously out of a sense of national and
individual need during World War II. In a good many localities
it has been continued since that time.

The invocation printed here was delivered by Dr. Ri-
chards, a keenly interested follower of all athletic sports, before
a football game played between Georgia Tech and Auburn on
Grant Field, Atlanta, Georgia, October 20, 1957.

o

God, our heavenly father; We thank Thee today for the beauty
round about us; for strong young men, for courageous spirits, and for the
love of play. We pray thy blessing now upon the members of these teams
and upon the institutions which they represent. Whether in victory or in
defeat teach us all the lessons of fair play, of sportsmanship, and of loyalty
to causes greater than ourselves. May thy blessing abide upon our country,
that increasingly ours may be a nation exalted by righteousness; that
America may be a force for freedom, for justice, for mercy and for peace
among all nations. Make us faithful as individuals in the performance of
all the duties of free citizens, and use us for the accomplishment of thy
purposes, we pray in Christ's name, Amen.

53

THE STRANGE STORY OF OUR TIMES

1958

Written as an interpretation of Twentieth Century His-
tory, this article appeared in the July, 1958 issue of THEOL-
OGY TO DA Y and is reprinted from that publication.

Xhe interpretation of history is a perilous undertaking at best.
This is particularly true when an attempt is made to deal with contempo-
rary events and movements. For the most part one needs a long perspective
in order to see human affairs in true proportions and to understand the
significance of what he sees.

Time seems to have a way of being moral in its ultimate deci-
sions. "The mills of the gods grind slowly, but they grind exceeding small."
It was this fact, written large in the records of antiquity, which led Mo-
mmsen to declare that "God makes a Bible out of history," and J. A.
Froude to assert that "history is a voice forever sounding across the centu-
ries the laws of right and wrong." Even in the events of our own day we
can sometimes see clearly the retribution which evil brings upon itself. For
a time, however, the unscrupulous person or nation frequently appears to
possess a real advantage, and we find ourselves perplexed and baffled that
truth should so continually be upon the scaffold and that wrong should so
often occupy the throne.

Mankind has seldom known anything but tempestuous seas, and
every age is a time of crisis. With due regard for that fact, it is still hard
to escape the conviction that the world has scarcely known any period of
more stupendous events or of greater peril than our own time. Some eight
years ago, Gerald Johnson published a suggestive commentary on the first
half of the Twentieth Century under the striking title, Incredible
Tale. The book itself dealt with the political education of the average
American citizen through the events of our times, and particularly through
the careers and the influence of four leaders: Woodrow Wilson, Nikolai
Lenin, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Josef Stalin. The idea of its title was
suggested by some words of Aeschines in 330 B.C. "What is there in the
list of strange and unexpected events that has not occurred in our time?
Our lives have transcended the limits of humanity; we are born to serve as
a theme of incredible tales to posterity." Mr. Johnson's treatment of his

54

theme makes highly interesting and stimulating reading, but his choice of
this phrase as a description of our own history since 1900 seems little less
than a stroke of genius.

The record of man's scientific progress and material achievement
in these fifty-eight years needs no large treatment here. Many inventions
which were in their infancy or still unborn at the beginning of our century,
have today become so commonplace as to be a matter of course. The
automobile and the airplane, the use of electric power for countless pur-
poses, the telephone, the radio, and television have transformed the lives
of millions. Nuclear fission, so little understood by most of us, has come
to be accepted as though it were a simple matter and the launching of earth
satellites has now become routine.

Yet, unbelievable as man's material achievements have been, the
fact of his inability to use them aright remains even more amazing. This
being who has harnessed the forces of the universe for his own use has made
no apparent progress toward controlling his own passions or conquering
himself. This person who has made such progress toward the conquest of
disease, and who so prolongs man's life, knows no better how to live than
did his forebears. This creature who has so nearly annihilated time and
space has not been able to increase his own spiritual stature, or to narrow
the moral abyss between himself and God.

Nowhere, perhaps, is the record of man's failures more glaringly
plain than in the economic, social, and political history of our times. Here
the tale is one of appalling blindness, of incredible blunders, of awful
tragedy brought by man upon himself and of an apparent inability to
learn from and profit by his own mistakes. It was in a mood of blithe
optimism that Western man entered upon this twentieth century. Progress,
it seemed, was the inevitable order of things. Through some evolutionary
process, as a result of some force resident within his own breast, man was
destined to move onward and upward to ever higher achievements and
standards. The fact that we had come so far was evidence enough that our
journey would continue smoothly. It was a time in which not a few thinkers
held that never again would the great nations of the world resort to war.

Such complacency was not destined to endure. During the sum-
mer of 1914 the bubble burst, and the very nations in which Western
civilization had attained its highest levels found themselves engulfed in
bloodshed. In 1917 the United States entered the conflict under the idealis-

55

tic leadership of Woodrow Wilson. Many of us remember still the phrases
in which he stated for the nation the purposes of our warfare. We were
fighting "a war to end war", we were fighting to "make the world safe for
democracy. " So we believed, and for these ends men sacrificed and died.
Indeed it is possible that if his country had been prepared to follow Wilson
into the League of Nations, and to make of it a strong and working
organization, these goals might in a measure have been attained. But,
America did not enter the League. The end of the conflict left democracy
less safe than it had been before and the seed of future wars had been
scattered upon fertile soil.

There followed the comparatively gay and prosperous years of
the nineteen twenties, when men dreamed that they had returned to what
President Harding called "Normalcy." The War must have been only an
unfortunate interlude. A tragic mistake had occurred, but it was, assuredly,
only a temporary interruption in the true scheme of things. We could now
forget that unhappy experience, resume our steady progress, and all would
be well. Day by day and in every way we were becoming richer, more
comfortable, and, therefore, better men.

But again we were interrupted. In the autumn of 1929 something
happened on Wall Street. The crash of the stock market marked the begin-
ning of a national collapse of confidence, and America entered the period
of the great depression. Today, even in a time of recession, it is hard to
think onself back into those years with seventeen million men in the
United States looking in vain for work, industry stagnant, banks closed or
closing, multitudes living on the verge of despair. This condition, moreo-
ver, was not confined to one nation, but was part of a world situation which
had its effect in most portions of the globe.

In 1933 the bottom of the long decline was reached and condi-
tions began slowly to improve. At about the same time, however, our
newspapers began to carry more and more frequently an, at first, unfamil-
iar name. On March 5, 1933, a strange little man called Adolph Hitler
received full power over the destinies of Germany by action of the Reichs-
tag. Today his whole career seems almost utterly unbelievable. He had
begun life in obscurity, he had gone through one war as a nameless soldier
among millions of his fellows; his early attempts at leadership had ended
in almost ludicrous failure. Yet within his breast there burned some strange
fire of genius and madness. Confined to prison he wrote out a program for

56

himself and for his nation, which he published under the title Mein
Kampf, for all the world to read. Then step by step he carried out his
plan. The great nations, who might have stopped this man in the beginning
by one firm action, perhaps without the shedding of a drop of blood, stood
aside and watched his steady progress to power. Indeed there were some
who wished him well, believing that in a stronger Germany the West would
find a new bulwark against Russia.

In 1939 Hitler was ready. At the end of that summer, not twenty-
one years after the Armistice of World War I, tragedy struck afresh, and
mankind was again engaged in war this time more terrible than that
which had preceded it. In 1941 the United States became involved through
Pearl Harbor. Once again this nation fought for great ideals The Four
Freedoms! Perhaps most men would find it hard to name them today:
Freedom from Want, Freedom from Fear, Freedom of Speech, Freedom
of Religion.

We fought the War through to what seemed a complete victory,
to the unconditional surrender we had demanded, but which of the free-
doms did we win? Freedom from Want in a world where millions of men
have died of starvation since the guns fell silent, and millions today scarcely
know what it is to be satisfied with food? Freedom from Fear? Has there
ever been a time when so many men lived in the shadow of dread as today?
Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Religion? The very concepts are ut-
terly rejected by Communism, and even in our own land these freedoms
are perhaps by no means so safe as we would like to think. Instead of
securing these privileges for all men in our day, we have seen them taken
away from millions in China and in the so-called satellite countries, by
forces which would deny them to the world if permitted to do so.

Another incredible facet of the story is found in the new light it
has thrown upon human nature upon man's capacity for evil. A civiliza-
tion which prided itself upon the distance it had traveled from barbarism
and savagery has suddenly discovered that, if it has progressed at all, it has
been in the direction of even greater cruelty. The slaughter of the Jews
under Hitler, the horrors of Dachau, and Buchenwald, the deliberate liqui-
dation of millions of men in Russia, the misery of the concentration camps,
and the fate of men who sought for freedom in Hungary are grim remind-
ers of the reality of things as they are. Nor can we congratulate ourselves
that we are guiltless of similar tendencies and actions. One of the amazing

57

revelations of the war was found in the ease with which the Allies accepted
and employed the practice of obliteration bombing. Men whose moral
sensibilities had professedly been shocked by some of the Old Testament
stories of Israelitish warfare, swiftly adopted the same practices, with the
heightened efficiency of modern weapons, loosing death and destruction
upon innocent children, the helpless aged, and non-combatant women
alike, in a slaughter the like of which mankind had not known in centuries.
The bomb which fell on Hiroshima was different in power and destructive-
ness, but not in moral intent, from thousands which rained on European
cities. All this we accepted as a matter of course, with few twinges of
conscience, and apparently without pausing to reflect on the revolutionary
change which has taken place in our concepts of what is permissible for
civilized not to say Christian men.

The record of the years since 1945 would have been almost
equally unbelievable if predicted in advance. Within a brief span of time
after hostilities ended, we had come to count and to fear as enemies two
great nations which we had hailed as gallant allies during World War
II Russia and China. At the same time, we began almost feverishly to
woo as allies the very nations against which we had fought so bit-
terly Germany, Italy and Japan. Thus began and continues the period
which we call the "Cold War" a period of tension, of hostility, of suspi-
cion, and of an incredibly costly race to produce ever more deadly weapons
and more effective means of delivering them upon other nations. Mean-
while we have fought in Korea another war, which in any other period
would be accounted a major conflict, and we face continually the possibil-
ity that at some other point hostilities will break out which cannot be
locally contained and which will result in tragedy for all the world.

The very nature of the threat posed by Communism is itself so
paradoxical that one could hardly have dreamed it possible. Here is a
system which bases itself upon the denial of God, yet which for many of
its followers has come to constitute a religion of power. It inspires its
followers with a devotion and a demonstrated readiness to sacrifice which
often make our declarations of willingness to follow Christ seem a hollow
mockery. It scoffs at the idea of moral law but continually condemns us
for failure to live up to our own standards, and builds a case agains us
before the conscience of mankind on the basis of our own professions. It
seizes upon ideals and slogans which should be those of Christians and uses

58

them for its own ends, claiming to be the only power that seeks for peace,
that would establish racial justice, that will remove want, and that will
provide opportunity for the masses. The fact that Christian ideals have
tremendous power, even when falsely used, is attested by the success of
Communism in winning the support of multitudes who will no longer be
content with the status of former years.

Yes, it is an "incredible tale," is it not? Who could have imagined
it in advance, and who can predict its ending? Almost it seems to be a "tale
told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. " On the con-
trary, it has a significance so clear that "even a wayfaring man, though a
fool", should be able to understand. It signifies the intellectual and moral
bankruptcy of our race. It makes plain, as does the record of no other
period in history, the fact that man left to his own devices is doomed.
Unless man can acquire a wisdom greater than his own, unless he can find
a source of power sufficient to transform his nature, inevitable disaster
awaits our race.

In the emergence of this fact our time presents the Christian
forces of the world with a fresh challenge and a supreme opportunity. The
men of our day are no longer either complacent or optimistic. The futility
of war as a means to settling our problems is all too clearly indicated by
our experience. The very science which had been man's pride and confid-
ence now threatens to destroy him. Events have constrained him to peer
into the secret places of his own soul, and what he has seen there fills him
not with hope, but with horror. It is almost certainly this fact which ac-
counts for the altered mood of multitudes toward the Church that prevails
so widely today; for a new and wistful attitude toward religion which holds
out at least the possibility of a real spiritual awakening.

The situation is one for which no half-way Christianity can suf-
fice. Our faith must challenge its followers to a dedication greater than that
of Communists; to a consistency of life which the world cannot ignore; to
a missionary effort such as the Church has not known since the early
centuries of our era; and to a fresh proclamation of the lordship of him
who alone is able to transform the lives of individuals and of nations. Once
again Christians must be ready to out-live, to out-think, and, if need be,
to out-die the world. In such a development lies the only real hope of
mankind. This, we believe, is the lesson of history in the Twentieth Cen-
tury.

59

THE RELEVANCE OF THE GOSPEL

1963

This address was delivered to the Alumni Association
of Columbia Theological Seminary at a meeting held on Novem-
ber 4, 1963. In a sense it constituted a "tract for the times",
dealing as it did with the needs and with some of the pressing
problems of the early '60's. In treating those problems, however,
the speaker sought also to voice some of his deepest convictions
concerning the nature of the Gospel and the essential task of the
Church and its ministers.

JLhere has been an amazing change of mood within Christendom
in recent years.

Less than a decade ago a spirit of optimism and assurance per-
meated the life of the Church in America. A great interest in religion
seemed to be abroad in the land. Never had religious books and articles
been more in demand. Newspapers were devoting a great deal more atten-
tion to stories of ecclesiastical events and movements than at v time in
our century, and most of the treatment given was favorable. lief was
popular. Church membership was growing steadily, both in nur. ers and
in proportion to the total population of our country. The supply . f candi-
dates for the ministry was at a record high, and new churches were being
erected all across our land. It seemed as if we might be on the verge of a
great religious revival.

Something has happened to the Church. In many quarters today
we find a spirit of discouragement and defeatism. Growth continues but
at a slower rate. We are constantly reminded that Christianity is beoming
more rather than less of a minority movement in the midst of the world's
population explosion. The Church and its ministry are increasingly the
object of criticism in the press, the literature and the conversation of our
day. There is bewilderment and uncertainty where formerly there was
confidence. It is not so easy to arouse enthusiasm, to secure new members,
or to sound the advance as it was.

Obviously the optimism which prevailed a few years ago was not
well grounded, nor was a great triumph for the Church at hand. By the
same token, there is no reason for dismay at present. The task before us

60

is difficult but, in reality, it has never been otherwise. It is well that we
should examine the situation before us with realism, and that we should
understand the real nature of our tasks. It is neither necessary nor right
that we should be depressed.

One of the accusations constantly made against the Church and
the ministry today is that our message lacks relevance; perhaps the accusa-
tion is just in its application to much of our preaching. In truth, however,
the Gospel is eternally relevant. It is as applicable and as necessary now
as it ever was, and as it always will be. It is a Word of the Lord that teaches
men how to live and how to die. That Word is our need and the need of
all men. We must learn how to preach it effectively in the troubled and
chaotic society of the late Twentieth Century.

Ours is a Gospel which teaches men how to live. It has its appli-
cation to all of the problems of thought and of conduct today. Assuredly
it has its application to the problem which is never far from our minds in
these times that of racial relationships. Here is an acid test of our Christi-
anity.

Quite obviously the problems which confront us in this matter
are many and complex. Anyone who claims to have all the answers does
not really understand the facts of the situation. Nevertheless, in our willing-
ness and our desire to solve this problem in the Mind of Christ is to be
found a real indication as to the nature of our faith.

The minister in our section is faced with a difficult task as he
seeks to deal with this matter. Emotions are high and tempers are short.
Many people are unwilling to listen to any discussion of the subject which
does not agree with their own ideas. What shall the minister do and say?
The question is not easy to answer, and many of the criticisms leveled at
us for our silence are unfair. It would be a fairly simple thing if one had
only his own popularity or his own position to consider. I believe that most
of our ministers are willing to suffer if need be. But love for the truth must
be combined with love for one's people and with the responsibilities of a
pastor. How far should one go in interposing a barrier between himself and
his people, so that there is no longer the possibility of ministering to the
flock for which one is made responsible? What should one do when loyalty
to what one most surely believes will mean splitting a congregation? What
if preaching the truth dries up the source of our benevolent giving and
impoverishes the total program of the church?

61

There is no simple answer. My heart goes out to you who are
constantly living with this issue. Certainly we must retain the love and the
confidence of our people, if possible. Otherwise we cannot hope to serve
adeuqately as pastors. By all means we must avoid the rending of a congre-
gation when we can find proper ways to do so. At the same time our
ordination vow requires us "to be zealous and faithful in maintaining the
truths of the Gospel and the purity and the peace of the Church." Purity
is necessary to any peace that is real. There are things even worse for a
congregation than controversy and division. It can be true for a congrega-
tion and for the Church as a whole, as it is for the minister, that "he that
saveth his life shall lose it".

One point would seem to be basic. Whatever discrimination is
practiced elsewhere, we have no right to shut any man out of the Church
and away from the preaching of the Gospel. The teaching of Scripture is
clear. "Mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people."

"My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the
Lord of glory, with respect of persons", writes James, the Brother of our
Lord, "For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring in
goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; and ye
have respect to him that weareth gay clothing, and say to him sit thou here
in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under
my footstool; are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges
of evil thoughts?" It seems not to have occurred to James that, beyond
being assigned to a low place, a man might even be barred entirely from
the congregation of God's people. Is the color of a man's skin any better
basis for such action in the sight of God than the nature of his clothing?

Yet, for so simple a thing as holding that every one who comes
to God's house should be admitted, many of our ministers and some of
you are suffering today. For this cause men, and sometimes their fami-
lies, suffer persecution. May God pity us!

There are three concerns that ought to move us deeply in this
matter. One of them is concern for freedom of the pulpit for the right to
declare the Word of God according to conscience. We had better stand by
our brethren in their struggles, whether we agree with them or not. If our
brother's freedom to preach the truth as he understands it at one point is
taken away, our freedom to preach some other truth may be gone tomor-
row. If a congregation can silence a man on one point of conscience, how

62

can it ever be confident that he will be faithful in proclaiming the Word
of God in any other area. Peace that is secured in this way is purchased at
too high a price. Both sessions and presbyteries would do well to ponder
this fact.

A second concern should be to assert the fact that there is no area
of the believer's life which must not be brought into subjection to Christ.
On the detailed applications of Christ's teachings good and faithful men
may differ. We have no infallible interpreter of Scripture. Neither the
minister nor the Church can claim to have all wisdom, nor can we bind
the consciences of men by our own dictates. One thing, however, we can
declare with certainty. The Christian must earnestly seek to know and to
do the will of Christ in every sphere of life. Neither personal desires, nor
prejudice, nor tradition nor experience can be chosen in preference to Him.
We must seek to base our racial practices, as our conduct in all other
matters, upon the revealed Will of our risen Lord. With Luther we must
say: "My conscience is captive to the Word of God."

A third concern must be that in all of our efforts to know and to
do the right the spirit of love shall prevail. We must preach the truth as
God gives us to see it, but we must preach it in love. Congregations simi-
larly should hear the preaching in love. Anger, name calling and bitterness
have no place in the Church. We must strive to understand those with
whom we differ, avoiding pride in our own positions. None of us is fully
Christian; we are only seeking to become so. Scorn and ill-will toward
those with whom we disagree will not advance our cause. Let us pray with
and for one another, that together we may more perfectly understand and
do the will of Christ. Let us love one another.

But there are other pressing issues which confront us in teaching
ourselves and others how to live. There is the matter of purity and chastity.
Sexual license is increasingly prevalent in our world. Impurity of thought,
of speech and of action is encouraged by the literature, the movies, and
the amusements of our day. Seldom, if ever in history has there been such
an outpouring of filth and such an effort to destroy standards of sexual
morality as now. We need to combat the evil of impurity with all the power
we possess beginning with ourselves. In the atmosphere of our day no
man is safe. "Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall."

We can only mention some of the other areas which demand our
prayerful thought and our preaching. There is the question of honesty in

63

all our personal and our business relationships. There is the need for teach-
ing as to temperance, or Christian abstinence in a day when the use of
alcohol is wrecking lives and destroying homes. There is the respectable
but deadly sin of covetousness. The temptation to covetousness is one of
the most insidious to confront both our people and ourselves. It can make
us soft and unwilling to sacrifice. It can rob us of all spiritual power.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ has much to say about all these
matters. It is not its irrelevance but its everlasting relevance which troubles
our souls.

And this Word which teaches men how to live contains the only
real answer as to how they can die. This also is an aspect of the truth which
much of our preaching has neglected. One wonders sometimes whether the
church really believes its own message on the subject. Certainly we have
not declared it with the urgency and the conviction which the issue de-
mands.

The world does not like the subject of death. Men put it out of
their thoughts so far as possible. If they face it at all it is seldom in the
light of God's Word. Like Omar Khayyam they assume that God's "a
good fellow and 'twill all be well." When death intrudes it is popular to
exalt the merits of the person gone and to declare that one so decent must
assuredly have entered into a better life. Popular philosophy in the matter
is expressed in the inscription over the entrance to a famous American
cemetery "Dedicated to Belief in a Happy Immortality. " This soft and
easy philosophy of death is based upon nothing whatever but wishful think-
ing and an unwillingness to face the ugly reality of sin.

Does the Church believe its own message? Do we know that "it
is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God"? Do we really
accept the teachings of Christ as to the eternal consequences of sin? Do
we heed the words of Him who said, "I am the way, the truth and the life:
no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me"?

If there is another way, if all is really well with those who forget
God and live as they please, then we need not be overly concerned about
the state of the Church or of the world. In this case our faith may be a
pleasant luxury, but it is not essential. There is no reason for us to be any
more concerned about evangelism and missions than we have been. We can
be comfortable in assuming that the world is right and that it does not
reallv matter too much how we live or die.

64

Brethren, we must re-examine our convictions. We must recap-
ture the sense of urgency which our Lord teaches. In a world of dying men
we must be concerned that so many know nothing of him who is the
Resurrection and the Life. We must heed anew the Great Commission of
our Lord. We must learn to preach again the fact that "the wages of sin is
death" but that "God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten
Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting
life."

In this message the Gospel is supremely relevant. There are other
teachers who have indicated fairly well the way to live. There is only one
who can show them how to die. There is no other way than Christ.

Let us not be discouraged, or become weary in well doing. The
task of the ministry has never been easy. It will not be easier tomorrow.
But God is still upon the throne.

It is popular in many quarters to speak of ours as a "Post-
Protestant" and indeed as a "Post-Christian World". I dare to assert that
it is not so. On the contrary it is a "Pre-Christian World."

The world has never been Christian. It never will be fully Chris-
tian until our Lord returns to reign. But men are in His hands. The future
is as bright as His promises. We may fail but He will not. His is the
Kingdom and the Power and the Glory. His Will shall be done, despite the
folly and the rebellion of men and of devils.

In this assurance let us dedicate ourselves afresh to the task that
is forever relevant and compelling. In His strength let us faithfully
proclaim His Word for this life and for the life to come.

65

THE HOLY SPIRIT AND THE CHURCH

1964

In August, 1964, Dr. Richards was one of several min-
isters invited to preach at Montreal, N.C. in a three day program
which had as its prevailing theme the prayer, "Come Creator
Spirit." His contribution to that program dealt with the Holy
Spirit in his relationship to the life and unity of the Universal
Church.

I

believe in the Holy Ghost", and "the holy Catholic Church."
It is surely no accident that these phrases come together in the Apostles'
Creed. Apart from the Holy Spirit there would be no Christian Church.
The third person of the Godhead constituted the church, formed it and gave
it being. Pentecost was its birthday an event in the Christian year to
which we give all too little emphasis.

The Spirit came at Pentecost upon the praying company of the
disciples. Campbell Morgan reminds us that "when the Spirit came upon
the waiting group of disciples he changed them from an aggregation of
units into one corporate whole, the Church of the Living God."

At Pentecost, as Dr. J.B. Green has written, "the church became
an organism and an organ. It afterwards became an organization. The
church became an organism, that is a living, growing thing like a a human
body or a tree. The church became an organ that is an instrument of the
Spirit of God. As the Son needed a physical body through which to
work through which to obey, suffer, die and rise again, so the Spirit
needed a body through which to witness. At Pentecost he prepared Himself
a body. He became incorporated. We speak of the incarnation of the Son.
We may well think of the transaction at Pentecost as the incorporation of
the Spirit. The Church is the body He formed, He indwells, resides in."

"The Spirit is the principle of its life, the bond of its unity; the
spring of its vitality and vigor, the source of its character, wisdom and
ministry."

The Book which we know as The Acts of the Apostles may well
be called the Acts of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit creates the Church, He
fills the hearts of believers. He appoints leaders. He directs them in their
work. He turns the apostles from apparently promising fields of witness

66

and leads them to others. He guides in their deliberations and inspires their
pronouncements. He empowers them in their work, He prepares the way
for them in the hearts of men. Restudy this book to see for yourself how
constantly the Holy Spirit appears in its pages.

How could the church so constituted and directed be anything
else than holy? How could the organism or organization which He formed
be anything else than what it was a catholic or universal church. The
divisions in the church have not been the work of the Spirit; rather have
they come about when believers ceased to follow His guidance.

The fragmentation of the church in recent centuries has often
been called "the scandal of Christianity" and so it is. That there are
many members of the body of Christ and that these differ in function is a
truth taught in the New Testament itself. That these members should be
at war with one another, or that one member should consider itself the
whole body, is utterly at variance with the will of God there revealed.
"Saints by profession" declares the Westminster Confession, "are bound
to maintain a holy fellowship and communion in the worship of God, and
in performing such other spiritual services as tend to their mutual edifica-
tion, as also in relieving each other in outward things according to their
several abilities and necessities."

It is a well recognized fact that the Reformers did not set out to
divide the Church. On the contrary it was their desire to purify and to
renew that body. John Calvin has been called the most ecumenical figure
of the Reformation Era. For him the true church was to be found "wher-
ever we find the Word of God purely preached and heard and the sacra-
ments administered according to the institution of Christ." He emphasized
moreover the obligation of all Christians "to cultivate the communion of
the Universal visible church." "As there is but one head of the faithful",
said he, "so they ought all to be united in one body, thus there are not
several churches, but only one which is extended throughout all the world."
His spirit is clearly shown by his statement that he would be willing to cross
seven seas if by so doing he could promote the unity of believers. It was
his plea that Christians should regard one another with "judgments of
charity."

In the seventeenth century those sons of Calvin, Comenius the
Czech, and Baxter the Englishman were ardent advocates of Christian
unity.

67

It is one of the glories of the Westminster Standards that they
so clearly emphasize the true nature of the church. It is not Presbyterian-
ism which they glorify but Christianity. One cannot say this better than
does our Confession of Faith: "The catholic or universal church, which is
invisible, consists of the whole number of the elect, that, have been, are,
or shall be gathered into one, under Christ, the head thereof; and is the
spouse, the body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all."

"The visible church, which is also catholic or universal under the
Gospel (not confined to one nation as under the law), consists of all those
throughout the world that profess the true religion, together with their
children; and is the Kingdom of the Lord, Jesus Christ, the house and
family of God." "Which communion (in worship and mutual helpfulness)
as God orTereth opportunity is to be extended to all those who in every
place call upon the name of the Lord Jesus." Could there be a more
decisive testimony to what it means in a practical sense to belong to the
Holy Catholic Church or a more articulate call to intercommunion?

The Confession declares that particular churches are members of
the universal church. It points out that none of these is free of error, and
recognizes that some have so degenerated as to become apparently no
churches of Christ. Nevertheless its emphasis is upon the reality of one true
and universal church, of which the Lord Jesus Christ is the only Head. The
spirit of that Confession has continued to be characteristic of Presbyterians
at their best. It has shaped, and pray God will continue to shape, the
attitude and the policies of our own denomination.

Perhaps the most distinctive and significant movement within
Christendom in this Twentieth Century has been that toward a greater
unity within Christendom. At a time when war and strife have been let
loose on the earth; when bitterness and hatred are rife; when civilization
itself is threatened; there has been a yearning manifest among Christians
for a new unity. Who shall say that this development is not of the Spirit.

This movement, which we call "Ecumenical", has made itself
known in many ways. It has led to conferences within Protestantism on
Missions, on Faith and Order, and on the Nature and Mission of the
Church. It has led to cooperation among denominations in cities, states
and nations. Its results have been seen in the organization of church coun-
cils at city, state and national levels and, in later years, of a World Council
of Churches which has included Greek Orthodox as well as Protestant

68

groups. It has been the inner compelling urge for union of some denomina-
tions and for constant negotiations looking to other and to broader unions.

Within recent years under Pope John and his successor the move-
ment has become a force within the life of Roman Catholicism as well. The
recent Ecumenical Council of that church has been abundantly publicized.
It is far too soon to assess the depth, or the ultimate results, of these latter
stirrings. Roman Catholicism changes very slowly. It is difficult to imagine
circumstances under which the church of the popes could ever work in close
relationship with those who will not recognize the claims of the Vatican.
Nevertheless, it is hard to mistake the fact that there is a new
openmindedness, a greater charity, an unmistakable yearning for greater
fellowship with other believers stirring the hearts and minds of our Roman
brethren. With God all things are possible. A revolutionary change in the
attitude and practices of Romanism are not beyond His power.

Who dares say that the Ecumenical movement is not the work
of the Holy Spirit preparing his people for a new and better day? Who
among us can fail to pray that it may be so?

Assuredly in our desire for unity we must not sacrifice truth. For
this reason movement toward organic unions must almost of necessity
proceed slowly. As Dr. Mackay has observed, "there is no future to any
vague ecumenism whose goal is the minimum common ground of Christian
agreement. " At the same time we must recognize that all those who believe
in Christ as Lord and Saviour are our brethren. We are one in Christ. As
we come closer to Him, as we learn to know the truth as it is in Him, we
cannot fail to come closer to one another or to strive to make this fact
manifest to the world.

To quote Dr. Mackay again: "True unity can be achieved in only
one way. Each confession, after a process of rigorous self-examination,
carried on under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, in the triple light of the
Word of God, the history of the church and the challenge of the hour, must
strip itself of all accretions due to human pride and error. Let it then,
responsive to the imperious voice of Jesus Christ, seek that unity which can
be found only in mission. "

Whatever else be true of our duty today, the commandment of
Christ is that we love one another. The fruit of the Spirit is first of all
love followed by "joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, temperance. " When we have that fruit in our lives we shall

69

inevitably be drawn closer to one another. When we approach our prob-
lems in that spirit we shall do so in greater hope of success.

It is for the lack of love that we are divided and warring with
one another within our family circle. This is the tragedy of our own church
today. If we truly long for the unity of Christendom we had better start
where we are. Charity truly begins at home. There is a danger that we shall
be so much concerned for union with other churches that we will fail to be
concerned with disunity in our own midst. We can be so filled with a
general love for all Christians that we will be bitter and unloving to the
brother at our side whose emphasis is different from our own.

Narrowness is not limited to those whom we class as fundamen-
talists. Indeed the greatest intolerance is often found among those who
count themselves liberals and who are determined that all others shall be
like them. I hear far more attacks made in certain church circles against
Fundamentalists than I do against those who deny the Christian faith and
oppose themselves to the church. Sometimes it almost seems true of both
camps within our church that they would rather not have the Gospel
preached at home or abroad than to have it preached by those with whom
they differ. This is a far cry from the spirit of Paul or of Christ. We have
"one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of mankind. "

We cannot heal the universal strife by bringing strife and discord
to it. Rather let us learn to love one another. Let us "be kind one to
another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's
sake hath forgiven you/' In so doing we shall attain a unity which will give
us something to offer. In setting such an example we shall hasten the day
when all Christians will be one.

The way is hard, the task is beyond human power, the work will
not be fully done this side of the grave. But the duty laid upon us is
unmistakable.

With all Christians we pray: "Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be
done on earth as it is in Heaven. ' Note that we pray for this will to be
done on earth; yet in Heaven there is but one church. We shall not there
be conservatives or liberals, Protestants or Roman Catholics, but one peo-
ple. Our great need, as taught by Christ himself, is that this should be true
here and now.

The end will not be attained by our own wisdom and power. It
can only come as the Spirit rules in our hearts and possesses his Church.

70

Even so, "Come Creator Spirit/' that Christ may be glorified by
the calling of his churches together in love, in unity, in faith, in witness,
and in life. As it shall be in Heaven, so may it increasingly be on earth.
Amen.

71

THE CHURCH AND ITS MINISTRY

AN EXCHANGE OF VIEWS WITH EDITOR RALPH MCGILL

1967

On August 14, 1967 the Atlanta Constitution carried
on its front page a column from the pen of its distinguished
Editor, the late Ralph McGill, which quoted the President of
Columbia Seminary in apparent pessimism concerning the
church and its ministers. Because he felt that this statements had
been used out of context, and would be widely misinterpreted,
Dr. Richards replied in a letter which appeared in the Constitu-
tion's "Pulse of the Public" Columns on August 23, 1967 setting
forth some of the author's basic convictions. Both the article and
the letter are reprinted here by permission of the Atlanta Consti-
tution. Limitations of space prevented Dr. Richards from dealing
at greater length with Mr. McGill's statements about the tragic
results of the Church's failure to face the issue of racial justice.
His own concern on this subject is expressed on other pages of
this book. In the letter printed here he was primarily concerned
to avoid misunderstanding and to express his faith in the future
of the Christian Enterprise.

Fever Chart of Emotions

Ahere is a serious decline in the number of theological students
in America. Fires of the old evangelical passions such as those that took
John Wesley from the Anglican Church to use piles of beer barrels, slag
heaps about coal mines, and other "pulpits" that would enable him to
speak to the unwashed and unconverted masses of Britain have not puck-
ered out. In some of the pentecostal groups there is still loud and fervent
exhortation.

But as one Methodist pastor recently said, the churches seem too
often to be more like filling stations set down on the most likely corners.

Dr. J. McDowell Richards, president of the prestigious Colum-
bia Seminary (Presbyterian) noted the serious decline in the number of
theological students. President Richards reports there is "talk" of consoli-
dating the existing 140 seminaries in the United States to about 20 "reli-
gious centers."

72

'Those who aspire to be ministers are beginning to look at the
irrelevancy of the church and see that in many cases those who try to make
it relevant or speak out on civil rights or other controversial issues find
themselves silenced or kicked out of the church. A young man headed for
life as a pulpit minister must have more conviction of his profession than
a man once did . . . The day of unquestioning faith and blind following
of ministers is over."

Ugly! Hopeful!

Within recent weeks news stories have reported walkouts from
Sunday sermons preached on the relevancy of the church's duty to the
conditions that bring on riots and urban disturbances.

Mail to newspaper editors is like a fever chart. It goes up and
down with emotions. There now are letters from Southerners gleefully
greeting the riots because they are in "northern cities." Race prejudice and
the regional provincialism of ministers come through in comments such as:
"What are the Northern preachers doing about the race problem now that
it is in their laps?" ....

"My church is going to stay white . . . we don't want any of that
jungle crowd coming to worship with us. . . ." (most of this type are from
rural and suburban areas. But the open pleasure in "the North's" having
riots was revealing.)

Events should not be lost on "the church," of any individuals.
The relatively small Black Power extremist groups have three major tar-
gets. They are "the church," the white man, and, equally, what they call
the "bourgeois Negro," who, despite handicaps and deprivations, has made
a place for himself.

More Expected

It is essential to know that the problems of the slums and civil
rights are separated, though related. Not many of the slum people have
even heard of the civil rights acts and advances of 1964 and 1965. Their
environment . . . their total environment . . . has been one of unrelenting
ugliness, want and denial. There are about 16 million persons in poverty
and another 26 million on the borders of poverty. And the number grows.

73

If this were not true there could not, and would not, be any Black
Power extremists.

The church is not alone in withdrawal and lack of commitment.
But, somehow, more is expected of it. That it remains largely segregated,
that it fires or silences ministers for bringing the greatest social problem
of the age to the pulpit poses a very large question mark. It also explains
the shortage of theological students.

PULSE OF THE PUBLIC

I am honored to have some of my recent statements made the
basis of comment in Ralph McGill's column for August 14. I am afraid,
however, that I must have failed to make my real meaning clear. It seems
to me that a person reading his article would quite probably conclude that
my attitude toward the church was negative and defeatist. On the contrary,
while seeking to be realistic in appraising its present weaknesses and fail-
ures, I sought in my statements as a whole to make clear the fact that I
believe whole-heartedly in the church, and am confident as to its long-range
future.

The fact that there has been a recent decline in the number of
candidates for the ministry is real cause for concern. However, that decline
has not been so large as may have been suggested by my words, actually
amounting to less than 5 per cent for American Protestantism as a whole.

The proposal made by some leaders of the American Association
of Theological Schools that the existing 140 theological seminaries be
consolidated into 20 or 25 theological centers is in no way based upon the
decline mentioned above. It looks rather to a raising of the level of all
theological education by a pooling of resources to provide teaching, library
and practical facilities far greater than the individual institutions could
hope to afford.

In Atlanta, the Candler School of Theology, the Interdenomi-
national Theological Center and Columbia Theological Seminary have
already taken significant steps in this direction. A larger degree of coopera-
tion is envisioned for the future.

It is true that it takes more conviction to enter the ministry today
than formerly. This, in itself, is gain. If ever men entered this calling for
prestige, or because it seemed to be a comfortable and easy field of service,

74

their motives were unworthy. Men who know the difficulties and who count
the cost will make better ministers.

I did cite the frequently made charge that the church is irrelevant
as discouraging to many. The charge is not baseless, for too much of our
preaching has been irrelevant. This we must correct, but the church itself,
with all its imperfections, still represents the real hope of the world. The
message of the Old and New Testaments, which teaches men how to live
and how to die, is and, when properly interpreted, will continue to be fully
relevant to the life of modern man.

The relevance of this message may be obscured by poor preach-
ing or by the failures of Christians to apply it in life, but it is not destroyed.
Again it is not determined by the opinions of those who hear it. Jeremiah
and Jesus were exceedingly relevant preachers. Their messages, however,
did not win the approval of their contemporaries.

Out of the difficulties of the present, we believe that there will
come a stronger, a more consistent and a more effective church. It will be
a church vastly concerned with and involved in contemporary issues and
needs as was its Master, but which, like him, will continue to declare that
God reigns and that life is not merely a matter of the here and now.

For men who want both a hard and a rewarding task, the minis-
try never afforded a greater challenge than it does today.

J. McDowell Richards

75

WORLD MISSIONS- A CHRISTIAN IMPERATIVE

1969

A firm believer in Missions, Dr. Richards sought con-
sistently, in his pastorates and during his administration at Col-
umbia Theological Seminary, to emphasize the missionary obli-
gation of the church. For nine years he was a member of the
Board of Missions of the Presbyterian Church, U.S. In 1961 he
went with Dr. Watson Street as an official representative of the
Board to evaluate and report upon the situation in the Congo
after the coming of independence. The sermon printed here was
delivered before the student body and faculty of Columbia Semi-
nary at a Chapel Service on May 23, 1969.

Matt. 28: 18-20 "All authority has been given unto me in
heaven and in earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all na-
tions, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son, and
the Holy Spirit; teaching them to observe all that I commanded
you: and lo I am with you alway, even unto the end of the age."

Jhese words constitute what we have known as the Great Com-
mission. The name is not inappropriate, for certainly they do contain a
commandment, a commission, of supreme importance. It is to be feared,
however, that in facing the importance of missions which here is set forth,
we have spoken too much of the task and too little of that which alone
makes Christian Missions possible. We have faced the need for and the
duty of World Missions, but have overlooked the authority and the power
for this undertaking. No mistake could be more fatal in the end. As a
matter of fact our text, as Dr. J.B. Green pointed out, contains a Dog-
matic, an Ethic, and a Dynamic A great belief, a great moral responsibil-
ity, and an all sufficient power. It is to all of these that we would give our
attention today.

The Dogmatic set forth in the Great Commission is that of the
Lordship of Christ. This- is no mere teacher instructing his disciples. This

76

is not the Christ of Calvary, suffering for the sins of men. It is the Christ
of the empty tomb; the Son of the Living God; the Lord of Glory. It is
one who has both the authority to command and the power to enforce.

We do well to remember the meekness and the gentleness of
Jesus. We need to study often the record of his earthly life and to meditate
upon his teachings. We must never forget the meaning of his crucifixion.
All of these are essential to our understanding of his nature and his mis-
sion. Yet if the story of Jesus had consisted only of these things there would
have been no Gospel as we know it. It is because there is infinitely more
to the record than this that you and I are here today and that millions like
us worship in churches the world around.

If the words of Jesus on the cross had been his final message
there would be nothing about this story which any one could have called
Good News. If that had been the last scene in his well played career, then
the drama of his life would remain mankind's supreme tragedy. Instead
of providing a firm basis for hope and faith, his words would lead only to
despair, and the denial of hope, and the negation of faith in a Father God.
At Calvary we see sin in its true color and human nature at its worst. Here
we see the finest and best that our race has known, rejected and destroyed
by evil men yet men not more evil essentially than you and I. Worse than
that, we see one who had utterly trusted God, who had served God with
complete devotion, whose meat had been to do his Father's will, apparently
forsaken at the end, so that in anguish he cries out to ask the reason why.
Only the Resurrection of Christ has made Calvary glorious, for in it we
find assurance that Jesus was what he claimed to be; that his teaching was
with authority; that his faith in God was justified; that goodness and love
shall yet triumph over evil.

It is not necessary to cite the evidence for the Resurrection again
today. Suffice it to say that it is evidence of a nature which cannot be
ignored, and upon which you and I need not hesitate to base our faith. I
should like to'say however, that the Great Commission is itself one of the
greatest evidences of the Resurrection. Suppose Christ had not risen from
the dead; suppose the disciples either lied about the empty tomb or became
victims of a hallucination which made them believe he was alive when he
was not what kind of commission would they have imagined him as
giving? Remember that these men were Jews who even at this time were
asking when the Kingdom was to be restored to Israel. Is it conceivable

77

that in creating words to put into the mouth of their Master they would
have made him speak of going to all the world or making disciples of all
nations? The very opposite is true, for their hopes would at best have been
confined to their own people. Even if they had desired to do so, would they
have dared to undertake the evangelism of the world? Never, seemingly has
there been a more "Impossible Dream. " It is hard to explain the calm
assurance and the world ouf look of these words upon any other assumption
than that they were indeed spoken by the risen Lord.

In this indirect way the Commission bears witness to the reality
of the Resurrection. On the other hand, it becomes a divine imperative
because of that event. "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth."
Here is set forth before us in the light of the empty tomb one of the
supreme facts revealed in Scripture the foundation truth of our faith. It
is the fact of the Sovereignty of God; the assurance that the Kingdom and
the Power, and the Glory are his alone, and that his will shall be done.

There are few truths which Christians need to have burned into
their souls more than this today. We are living in a world troubled as
perhaps never before in all of history. We have seen our dearest dreams
destroyed and our loftiest ideals trailed in the dust. We have seen hatred
and force repeatedly take the ascendency and have watched wars come
again and again despite the desperate efforts of men to escape. Today we
see civilization threatened and face the possibility that the greatest achieve-
ments of our race may be wiped out. Beyond that, we see a rising tide of
opposition to the Church and a determined attempt in many places to wipe
Christian faith out of existence. We face these things, and are fearful and
distressed: we should be distressed by them, but oh, my friends, the glory
of the Christian Gospel is that we need not despair nor be afraid. "Our
God is in the heavens, he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased." He
"worketh all things after the counsel of his own will." "Of Him and
through Him and to Him are all things: to whom be glory forever. Amen."

During World War II a child in the baby cottage of Thornwell
Orphanage had evidently listened much to the conversations of older peo-
ple. Coming in one morning during the conflict and bringing the paper with
its glaring headlines she laid it before her house mother and said. "Well
mam, I guess so long as Hitler don't kill God and Jesus we're all right."
How often we act as if man could destroy even the God whom we serve.
We need to come back to the assurance of Scripture, to the simple faith

78

of that little child. As Dr. Hodge has well said; the "sovereignty of God is
the ground of the peace and confidence of all his people. They rejoice that
the Lord God omnipotent reigneth; that neither necessity, nor chance, nor
the folly of men, nor the malice of Satan controls the sequence of events
and all their issues. Infinite wisdom, love and power belong to Him, our
great God and Saviour, into whose hands all power in heaven and earth
has been committed. "

This is not to say that God has willed the present state of affairs
in the world. That state has been brought about because men have rebelled
against Him, because they have turned their backs on the truth; because
they have sinned against Him. Yet men have been able to do these things
only because God permitted them freedom; they cannot go beyond the
bounds which he has set. His plan will not be thwarted. "He maketh the
wrath of men to praise him." He did that at the cross where in his wisdom,
his power, and his love he made even sins defeat their own purpose and
work the Salvation of men. In his own time and his own way he will
overrule the folly of men in our day also, so that all things shall "work
together for good to them that love God/'

This is the power which has been given to Christ. By this author-
ity he bids his disciples go and teach. It is the authority and the power of
the sovereign God; an authority and a power which will not fail. Our Lord's
words, you will notice, do not make him the source of that power. Here,
as always, he ascribes the supreme place to the Father who has given him
authority. Nevertheless, the power is in his hands. He is the reigning Christ.
He has passed through the adversities of life, through the loneliness and
the heartaches of his ministry; through the shame and the suffering of
Calvary; through the glory of the Resurrection morn into the place of
exaltation in heaven and in earth. He speaks now not in the notes of gentle
persuasion but in the imperial tone of command. Because he has suffered
humiliation "God hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is
above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow." "He
must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet." Many enemies have
not yet been overcome, there are still many to be destroyed, but the mark
of their doom is upon them. In due time they too shall be brought into
subjection to Christ. "Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered
up the Kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all
rule and all authority and power."

79

In giving this command to his followers, Christ, as always, went
to the heart of the matter. He never argued for the eixstence of God; he
simply recognized that supreme reality. He never questioned or defined the
fact of sin; he faced the malady and pointed out the remedy. He did not
debate the question as to whether other religions are good enough for their
followers; he did not discuss the final state of those who never hear of him.
He simply says: "Go . . . make disciples of all the nations." Bring them
to know me; teach them to trust and follow me; preach to them the one
who came that men might have life, and have it more abundantly."

That is enough. The disciple in his turn need not argue. He has
only to obey him who is both Saviour and Lord. Missions cannot be an
elective for the Church. It is central to her task and only as she gives herself
to its accomplishment can she expect his presence and his blessing.

This then is the Dogmatic the great imperative of our text. Let
us pass quickly to the Ethic, the duty which there is set forth. There is not
time enough for us to discuss it at length today nor is there need, if only
we have caught a glimpse of the reigning Christ. Having declared his
authority as King, he proceeds to give his royal command. Therefore . . .
Therefore, because I do have all power, "go and make disciples of all
nations . . . teaching them to observe all that I commanded you."

"Faith without works is dead." Our Lord did not bid us simply
to bring men to outward acceptance of Him. He did not suggest that when
men had been baptized the task of his disciples would be done. One of the
greatest weaknesses of our modern Christianity lies in the fact that we have
been so anxious to get men into the Church and so little concerned about
them after they got there. Jesus never gave encouragement to that kind of
Christianity. "Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you",
he says. This takes in the Sermon on the Mount. It includes all the ethical
and social teachings of the Master. It touches all of life. Jesus must reign
over every part of man's life. He must truly be Lord of all. His Kingdom
must embrace nations as well as individuals. He must be Lord in a man's
home, in his business, in his social relationships, in his politics, in his
Church or he will not be Lord. "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord,
Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, but he that doeth the will
of my Father which is in Heaven," he says. Here is an aspect of his Ethic
which touches every one of us in every part of life. We cannot teach others
to observe what he has commanded save as we teach ourselves also. We

80

must crown him Lord of all in our own hearts and lives that we may seek
to extend his Kingdom into all the world.

And then there is the Dynamic for our task. It is the dynamic
which is implicit in Christ's declaration that all power has been given unto
him; it is made explicit in the promise which follows his command, "Lo, I
am with you always, even unto the end of the age."

Does the task that confronts us today seem to be overwhelming?
Are there obstacles which apparently we cannot hope to overcome? How
much worse then must the case have seemed to the little group to whom
Christ gave the Commission. They faced a world which had crucified him,
and which might well do the same to them. They possessed neither wealth
nor learning nor influence, yet they were told to take the world for him.
You cannot explain their daring to undertake such a task except in their
assurance that Jesus Christ was Lord. You cannot explain the success of
their efforts and the impact of the Christian Church upon the ancient world
save by the fact that Christ was indeed with them, and in them, to give
them strength for their task.

It has been true in the experience of God's people through the
centuries that the presence of Christ has given power for every need. He is
not a king far removed from the presence of his subjects. His throne is the
heart of every true believer and his compansionship is given to all who will
take him at his word. When David Livingstone faced imminent peril of
death at the hands of hostile tribesmen in Africa he wrote in his journal:
"Felt much turmoil of spirit in prospect of having all my plans for the
welfare of this great region and this teeming population knocked on the
head by savages tomorrow. But I read that Jesus said: 'All power is given
unto me . . . go ye therefore . . . and lo, I am with you always even unto
the end of the age.' It is the word of a gentlemen of the most strict and
sacred honor, so there's an end to it. I will not cross furtively tonight as I
intended. Should such a man as I flee. Nay, verily, I shall take observations
for latitude and longitude tonight, though they may be the last. I feel quite
calm now, thank God."

It was that unseen presence which gave Livingstone strength for
all his labors for Africa. It was that unseen Companion to whom he spoke
last on earth before his spirit took its flight. When at last he passed away,
the black men who came to his hut in the morning found his dead body in
the position of prayer. Livingstone breathed his last breath upon his knees.

81

"Lo, I am with you always."

"It is the word of a gentleman of the most strict and sacred
honor. " It is the word of a king whose arm is not shortened and whose
power will not fail. It is the promise of the sovereign God in and through
His son. Let us so yield our lives to him today and always that we may
claim the promise for ourselves, and that the power of his presence with
us may make us faithful subjects, useful servants, flaming witnesses to the
truth among all nations until they too shall sing:

"All hail the power of Jesus' name,
Let angels prostrate fall,
Bring forth the royal diadem
And crown Him Lord of All."

82

THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY AS A
GRADUATE PROFESSIONAL SCHOOL

1970

At the request of the Faculty, Dr. Richards was the
principal speaker at the Convocation which opened the last aca-
demic year of his service as President of Columbia Theological
Seminary. The address, which is printed here, was delivered in
the Seminary Chapel on the evening of September 24, J 970.

w

hat is a theological seminary? From an educational viewpoint
it is a graduate professional school. That definition is not sufficient in itself
to satisfy but it has implications which we may well explore for a little
while tonight.

In the first place it suggests the nature of our task as viewed by
the world of scholarship. A graduate school is not a place for beginners.
It expects and demands maturity if not in its beginning at least in its
completion. This is no place for easy answers and for the presentation of
predigested materials. The mastery of a field, the seeing of a subject as a
whole, the facing of every hard and difficult question which may
arise these are essential to the graduate student who expects to perform
his task aright.

A worthy graduate school does not accept or tolerate those who
have no willingness to work. There is no royal or easy road to learning.
Long hours and laborious effort are required of any one who expects to
succeed. This should be not less but more true in a Christian than in a
secular institution. As we begin a new year at Columbia Seminary let
students and faculty members face this fact together, and determine that
we shall act accordingly.

In the second place let us note the fact that this is a professional
school. It does not seek to provide its graduates with an introduction to
all knowledge and to general skills. On the contrary, it concerns itself with
the mastery of a particular field of knowledge and with the acquiring of a
specific skill or skills. The medical school devotes its attention to under-
standing the body and, to some extent at least, the mind of man. It combats
every force which endangers or destroys physical and mental health. A
school of law seeks ideally to prepare those who will know, understand and
apply the legal precepts and principles on which the structure of our society

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depends. By the same token, the theological seminary, existing as it does
to serve the Church, has as its purpose the preparation of those who will
know, understand, communicate and apply the truths by which that institu-
tion lives and for which it must not cease to stand.

In this connection, let us not forget the importance of the term,
Theological, as applied to the education here. The Seminary does not exist
in a vacuum. Its orientation is not primarily toward men. It is theo-centric,
God-centered. Moreover the Theos, the God, with whom the Church and
the Seminary are concerned, is not unknown, nor are his attributes left to
speculation or imagination. The word Theological, as any good dictionary
will attest, describes that which pertains to the Word of God. It deals with
the God of Revelation the God who has seen fit to communicate with
man.

It is the Christian faith that God has revealed himself through
prophets, seers and Apostles, but above all through his Son, Jesus Christ.
In the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament we find the record of that
Revelation. There are various theories as to the nature of the Inspiration
by which the Holy Spirit guided those who have conveyed his Word to us.
With those theories you will find yourselves wrestling in days to come, and
you will need to learn charity toward those with whom you differ. You will
find no difference here, however, with reference to the fact of Revelation
and the fact of Inspiration.

There are certain basic truths to which you will come back again
and again in your study of the Bible. Here you will deal primarily with the
fact and the Nature of God; with his holiness, his wisdom, and his power.
You will have to do constantly with his holiness and with the demands this
makes upon man; with his justice and what this requires; with his love and
what this has done for us. In this supremely realistic book you will see man
in all his degradation and sin, yet will not be allowed to forget the wonder
of his origin, as one created in the image of God, or the potential glory of
his future as one called to become a son of the heavenly Father. Through
all of Scripture you will find running the crimson thread of God's redemp-
tive purpose and sacrificial self-giving for his creature man with all that
this implies for our own conduct.

Knowledge of the Scriptures is basic to our theological training,
but academic knowledge is not enough. The Scriptures were given that we
might come to know God himself, and to find the life which God alone

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can give. And here, wonder of wonders, we find that the God who was in
Christ, reconciling the world to himself, has committed to us the word of
reconciliation.

How shall we transmit that word to others? Not at all, we may
be sure, until we have understood, pondered and appropriated it for our-
selves. Fortunately its basic truths are so clear and simple that a wayfaring
man, though a fool, need not err therein. But there are mysteries here too
profound for the wisest among men, and truths which we shall never ex-
haust. God has "yet more light waiting to break forth out of His Word"
for those who earnestly and faithfully seek to find it.

But again it is not enough to have the knowledge for ourselves.
We must learn how to communicate it to others. That is why we not only
study Biblical, Historical and Doctrinal Theology but pursue all the
courses in the Pastoral area as well. In these we seek to acquire the skills
which, under the guidance and by the power of the Holy Spirit, may be
used in bringing man to know Him who came that men might have life
and have it more abundantly. That is why we need to know how men live
today and what the forces are which make or wreck their lives. That is why
we must study how to preach, how to teach, how to deal with human needs
and problems, and how to carry on the program of the Church to the end
that its mission may be fulfilled. Three years, four years, a lifetime are not
enough for this.

Now, in conclusion, let me suggest that the word "professional"
does not adequately describe the nature of Christian Theological Educa-
tion. We need to be professional in the sense that we are not bungling
amateurs, but men and women as fully equipped as possible for our task,
both by knowledge and by skill. We must not be so in the sense that our
work is done mechanically, as a means to earning a livelihood or of supply-
ing our own needs. One does not, or should not, choose the ministry as a
profession. Rather he is chosen for it, and called to it. He who is in the
ministry for any other reason will not find fulfillment there, however suc-
cessful he may be in winning the praise of men.

The first Christian theological seminary was conducted by Jesus
of Nazareth. Its faculty of one was without reproach; in this it was different
from any other seminary before or since that time. The student body, on
the other hand, was not too unlike that of other schools. It was made up
of weak, fallible and blundering men. The disciples with one exception,

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however, had two qualities in common. They followed Christ because they
had recognized the authority of his call and because, imperfectly, but with
increasing intensity, they loved and trusted Him. Because they did, he
made of them the eleven a force which shook the world and changed
the course of history.

Tonight he calls us again, students, teachers, staff members, fam-
ilies, to follow him. A theological course, if it is to have validity, is still a
walk with Christ a learning from Him. Only in faith, in love and in
obedience can we find real meaning in the hard, and sometimes monoto-
nous and wearisome, work which lies before us. Only in His strength can
we face the difficulties and the challenge of our perilous times with assur-
ance and with hope.

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CHANGE - AND THE CHANGELESS

1972

On February 1 , 1972, the Synods of South Carolina,
Georgia and Florida met jointly in the Druid Hills Presbyterian
Church of Atlanta. The purpose of this convention was to make
plans for a new Synod "G" which, in accordance with the recom-
mendation of the General Assembly, was to include all three
bodies within its membership. Dr. Richards had been requested
to deliver the closing message at this gathering and had prepared
a formal address for the occasion. However, the meeting took
somewhat longer than had been expected and when the time
came for him to speak he sensed the fact that the Convention was
weary and restless. For this reason he discarded most of the
address which he had prepared, and delivered a brief extempora-
neous message in which he endeavored to embody the central
thrust of what he had intended to say. His remarks were recorded
on tape and have been transcribed for the purpose of publication
with only slight alterations. Under the circumstances, some of
the sentences were not as Dr. Richards would have written them
and a number of ideas are mentioned rather than developed. It
seemed better though for his remarks to be reproduced in the
general form in which they were delivered, rather than in an
altered, even if more polished, literary style. The title chosen for
the address has been retained for the abbreviated version.

Xhe Name of the Game is Change". So said an able educator
not long ago. Whether we like it or not, this is true. There are those who
by nature would prefer to have no change, and certainly this attitude is
wrong. On the other hand, there are those who gladly assume that any
change is for the better. This conviction also is erroneous. But, whether we
like it or not, change is a part of life.

Change is characteristic of the world as we know it. Dr. Kenneth
Boulding, the distinguished economist, made this fact unforgettably clear
in a lecture delivered at Gustavus Adolphus College in 1966. Although then
only in his middle fifties, he said of himself and his times: "The world of
today is as different from the world in which I was born as that world was

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from Julius Caesar's. I was born in the middle of human history, to date,
roughly. Almost as much has happened since I was born as happened
before. 1 ' Perhaps that statement is an exaggeration, but not greatly so.

Many of you have read Alvin Toffler's book, FUTURE
SHOCK, and, if you have not done so, I commend it to you for your
examination. The future is rushing in upon us, it seems, at an ever acceler-
ating rate. Change is in the air.

You and I, this afternoon, have been wrestling with change.
Whatever the final results of the actions we have taken may be, the situa-
tion will be altered by our having been here. Change will come in many
ways, and the church is desperately seeking for new methods and better
ways.

One change that we need to make, I think, is in our attitude, our
orientation toward the future. There is a tendency in society and in the
church to glorify the past; to deplore the fact that things are not as they
were. This mood of nostalgia has been noted in connection with the music
and the amusements of our day. We find it reflected on the part of those,
and often I am in their number, who think how much better things were
in the old days, and would like to turn the clock backward.

The fact of the matter is, my friends, there were no "good old
days". There were things in the old days which were good and which we
neglect or sacrifice at our deadly peril. There are things in our day also
which are good, and sometimes they mark a real advance over the past.
In the past which we mistakenly glorify even though there is much which
we need to learn from it, human nature was fallen, even as it is today, and
sin was at work in society, and in individual life, and in the church.

As we face some of the glaring evils which threaten the very life
of civilization in our day, let us remember that men of former generations
were guilty of practices which must have been equally grievous in the sight
of God. Our fathers, for example, were in large degree blind to the sin of
slavery. Little thought was given to the evils of poverty and to crimes
committed in war. You and I grew up in blindness to the racial discrimina-
tion and injustice which we had inherited from former generations, often
accepting these evils as a matter of course. Today we are only gradually
learning to see the necessity of bringing racial relationships into accord
with the teachings of Christ and our progress in this and other areas is
painfully slow. So many blind spots in our past, even as in our present!

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No, there were no good old days.

Now and again I listen on my radio to a program which some
of you hear: "Back to The Bible". It has a good sound about it but the
fact of the matter is that, except in knowledge of the Bible, we can't go
back to it. We have never come up to it. It is forward to the Bible; it is
forward to the service of God!

This was true in the attitude of our Lord himself, for his message
dealt with the Kingdom of God and looked forward to the Kingdom of God
and the rule of God that which lies in the future. To be sure the Kingdom
of God has its present aspects and the Kingdom of God is in our midst,
but its fulfillment is yonder, and the Golden Age of Christianity is in the
future. The Apostle Paul himself expressed that attitude in the words which
we read: "Forgetting those things which are behind". Oh, there was much
which he did not forget, but we know his meaning. "Forgetting those things
which are behind and reaching forth unto those which are before, I press
toward the mark/'

My friends, you and I need to be forgetting many things our
pride, our complacency, our failures turning our faces to the future with
a great sense of urgency and a great sense of expectation. What do we
expect in the Church today? So little apparently! In my college days the
Student Volunteer Movement was still a power with its slogan, "The Evan-
gelization of the World In This Generation. " Who talks about the evangeli-
zation of the world at all today, except perhaps the Campus Crusade for
Christ? It has a program. But how much do we expect? We need a new
expectancy, a new hope, a new outward thrust. Yes, and we need a new
commitment to Jesus Christ, and a new humble seeking for the guidance
of the Holy Spirit, and a new love for one another.

There is much of transformation that is urgently needed. As we
go forth from this place, let us go not in sadness because of inevitable
change, or in sorrow for the past that will not come again, but in joy as
we look to the future which is in the hands of God.

"Friends and loves we have none", wrote John Masefield,
"Nor wealth nor blest abode,
But the hope of the City of God, at the other end of the road.

"Not for us are content, and quiet, and peace of mind,
For we go seeking a city, that we shall never find.

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"There is no solace on earth for us for such as we
Who search for a hidden city that we shall never see.

"Only the road and the dawn, the sun, the wind and the rain,
And the watch-fire under stars, and sleep, and the road again.

"We travel the dusty road, till the light of the day grows dim,
And sunset shows us spires, away on the wide world's rim.

"Friends and loves we have none, nor wealth nor blest abode.
But the hope of the City of God, at the other end of the road."

So let us face change, unafraid. So let us be on our pilgrimage
and our journey as seekers, looking unto Him who is "the author and the
finisher of our faith"; for His is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory,
forever, Amen!

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