Toward the end of his time at Princeton Seminary, Machen wrote:
"The fellows are in my room now on the last Sunday night, smoking the cigars and eating the oranges which it has been the greatest delight I ever had to provide whenever possible. My idea of delight is a Princeton room full of fellows smoking. When I think what an aid tobacco is to friendship and Christian patience, I have sometimes regretted that I never began to smoke." [Stonehouse, J. Gresham Machen: A Biographical Memoir, 1987, p. 506.]
Thanks to Mike for sending me this quote! I can't believe I've never seen it before!
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4 comments:
I'm sure Machen wrote a lot you've not yet read (given his output). But on smoking tobacco, I wonder if he might have changed his mind given full knowledge of connections with cancer, etc. Based on theology of man, of course, not merely on pragmatics. I love most of what Machen wrote, but as my grandmother died of lung cancer through fairly light smoking, I'd not wish smoking on anyone.
Rosemary,
I wasn't claiming to have read all of Machen's writings, nor was I claiming to have read a lot of it. A lot of blogs I read quote Machen frequently. I was expressing surprise that I hadn't seen this yet.
And I doubt that Machen did change his mind. In celebration of the OPC anniversary (well after Machen's death), Dr. John Fesko reflected on his entrance into the OPC, discussing the way in which this quote from Machen was helpful for him in recognizing the ethos of the denomination Machen started, i.e., they were committed to Christian liberty where God has not spoken. Fesko was coming from a fundamentalist background.
You can read that article here if you'd like:
http://www.opc.org/nh.html?article_id=381
The OPC has two historians that are responsible for understanding their past and Fesko (a systematics professor) is well-read in church history. I don't imagine that they would be too keen to misrepresent Machen's mature thought.
Oh no, I didn't say he did change his mind - his position on Christian liberty is well known, and the prohibitionists couldn't make him out as he was 'fundamentalist' in the best way in his theological defence of orthodoxy, but liberal on this, education, politics, etc. Sadly it seems many just found that puzzling and ignored it, rather than engaging with it. No, I said I wonder if he might have changed his mind given a full knowledge of the destructive effects of smoking (which he didn't have). It may be that he wouldn't, but while I support many of my heros (Machen, C.S.Lewis, etc.) in their liberal enjoyment of what God has made, I wish their endorsements of smoking weren't cited as if we didn't know better. I'm with Machen on not banning such things, and not aligning the cause of Christ with them, but I'd not encourage the use of tobacco.
Sorry for misunderstanding you, Rosemary! This is definitely one of those instances of "Brits and Americans being separated by a common language". Thanks for your clarification.
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