1955. The Baby and the Bath. The Southern Presbyterian Journal. Nov. 30. 8-9.
The Baby and the Bath
By Gordon H. Clark
The Earnest Worker is an official publication of the Presbyterian
Church in the U.S., the United Presbyterian Church, and the Reformed Church in America.
In its October issue Dr. Richard W. Graves, under the title All Saints' Day, complains
that the early Presbyterians were too strict in dispensing with saints days and
that in reacting against the Catholic abuses they threw out the baby with the bath.
At the present time, he says, we are regaining a proper balance by reinstating All
Saints' Day, Epiphany, Whitsuntide, and Trinity.
But what is the baby and what is the bath? Sometimes illustrations
fail to illustrate. Even the parables of Jesus cannot be pressed to their last detail;
in fact he told parables as much to disguise as to reveal his thought (Mark 4:12).
Fallible writers and speakers may wish to reveal their thought and inadvertently
tell a story that throws the audience off the track. What then is the baby that
is to be kept while we throw out the bath water?
Presbyterianism is founded on the Word of God. Our worship is
to be in conformity with God's requirements. God has told us in the Bible how he
desires us to worship him, and we have no authority to add to or to subtract from
his directions. We are to turn aside neither to the right hand nor to the left.
Chapter I, section 6, of the Westminster Confession admits that
"there are some circumstances concerning the worship of God and government
of the Church, common to human actions and societies, which are to be ordered by
the light of nature and Christian prudence..." That is to say, the church service
as much as the city council must meet at a set time. A professional society as well
as a prayer meeting must select a given place. And they must all have some seating
arrangements. These common circumstances are not legislated by the Bible. They are
matters of mere convenience. But the content of the worship service itself, the
particularities that distinguish it from other meetings, are given unchangeably
in the word of God. To these instructions "nothing may at any time be added,
whether by new revelations of the Spirit or traditions of men."
To a Presbyterian mind this Scriptural principle is the baby,
and the Romish superstitions are dirtier than the bath water that is to be thrown
out. There is no hint in Scripture of the celebration of an All Saints' Day or of
any saint's clay. Hallowe'en is simply a pagan ceremony superstitiously introduced
into the so--called Christian calendar. God has required of us to celebrate the
Lord's Day and no other.
Why do not political publications of the church promote instead
of attack the official position of the church? Let us not throw out the baby and
keep the bath.
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