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;.. impelled to speak to Dr. Dixon about his burden of publishing Christian lit- erature. He outlined his ideas and the method by which he thought they could best be carried out. After hearing this plan, Dr. Dixon said, "I- be-l:iev-e--- rr-- is o~ the Lord; let us pray." Upon his return to Chicago, he organized the Testimony Publishing Company for the purpose of publishing The Fundamentals. Mr. Stewart, with the help of his brother Milton, provided the funds. The Editorial Committee of The Fundamentals met for the first time, November 5, 1909, and the first volume was published early in 1910. After volume nine was published, Dr. Dixon left the Committee to go to London, England to pastor Westminster Chapel. Rev. Louis B. Myers succeeded Dr. Dixon as Chairman of the Committee. The plan for the project was to publish a total of twelve volumes, and to send them, free of charge, to Protestant ministers, evangelists, missionaries, theological professors, theological students, and YMCA Secretaries. The three-fold purpose of the publications was "The strengthening of the saints, the defense of the truth against the insidious attacks of the present day, and the conversion of sinners." There- fore, all the articles were written to meet these needs. The impact of The Fundamentals on the origin of the fundamentalist move- ment can best be evaluated by the fact that a total of 2,300,000 copies of the first nine volumes was published, or approximately 255,000 copies per volume. With the completion of the twelfth volQme, the number reached four million copies. These were translated into several different languages, and ยท some articles in them were reprinted in tract form. A m~~ber of the Editor- ial Committee said, "Thus there can be no doubt that The Fundamentals have done a unique work, one might say, a work unique in the history of the Christ- ian Church." This evaluation agrees with that given years later by Stuart Cole in his History of Fundamentalism, when he gave these publications credit for "the clear emergence of fundamentalism." Because of the influence of The Fundamentals, together with the public- ation of Jesus is Coming, a classic in its day, by N. E. Blackstone, who was
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