August 1 Today in OPC History

In 1849, a baby boy was born in Richmond, Virginia to an architect and his wife. This child is known to us only by his initials, “R.H.” He was 12 years old when the War between the States broke out, and he spent the war years in the capital of the Confederacy. After the war, though not devoid of intelligence, he became a common laborer and took up the sinful habit of drunkenness. Sometime in 1909, R.H. heard the gospel and was converted. He joined the First Presbyterian Church of Princeton, New Jersey, then under the ministry of the Rev. Sylvester Beach. About a year later, Rev. Beach introduced R.H. to J. Gresham Machen, then an instructor at Princeton Theological Seminary.

For the next twenty-three years, R.H. had no truer friend that Dr. Machen. Shortly after their acquaintance, Machen would write that “For the last few weeks R.H. has spent a considerable part of the time in my room reading Pilgrim’s Progress. He has read both parts over twice with avidity, and displays a taste for other equally improving reading.”

R.H. received pecuniary help from his new friend, including two nice sets of new clothing. Sadly, he sold the clothing and used the money to buy alcohol for a drunken spree. Machen searched for employment for R.H., although broken-down health limited him to light work. He also felt it necessary to move R.H. to another locale in order to avoid bad companions that encouraged his occasional lapses into his old sins. Eventually he found him lodgings in Vineland, New Jersey—about 80 miles to the south of Princeton.

Once in Vineland, R.H. began attending worship in nearby Millville, New Jersey. But this didn’t stop Machen from taking an active interest in the welfare of this man. He sent weekly pastoral letters to R.H., and they carried on a regular correspondence. Dr. Machen also found a helper in this ministry, whom he refers to as “good old Dr. King.” Between Machen and King, they kept tabs on R.H. They also enlisted pastors in the communities where R.H. lived, who ministered to him and administered financial help as needed. On more than a few occasions, Machen had to make emergency trips to Vineland in order to help R.H. These were a significant inconvenience, and in one letter Machen admits that due to this diaconal project “my academic work has absolutely gone by the board.” Machen began suspecting that R.H. was carrying on systematic deceit, but proving such was impossible. Yet he persevered in helping R.H., who continued to grow as a Christian.

During World War I, R.H. began writing spiritual letters to soldiers on the front as a ministry to them. Rev. Beach testified about R.H.’s growth in grace in a letter to Machen as follows: “I want you to know that I consider R.H. as one of the most marvelous monuments of grace I have ever known. He is living a consistent Christian life after more than fifty years of dissipation. He cares for nothing so much as the church and the services of it. His whole thought is of the various meetings for religious worship. He is also bent on doing good as he has opportunity.” The later years of R.H.’s life were marked by sobriety and growing godliness as the Lord sanctified him. In August of 1933, R.H. finished his race at age 84 and was welcomed home by the angels in glory who had rejoiced to see this repentant sinner redeemed by the grace of God.

The story of R.H. is found in J. Gresham Machen: A Biographical Memoir by Ned Stonehouse, available from the Committee for the Historian.

Picture: Portrait of J. Gresham Machen at Westminster Theological Seminary