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The second is—Oliver Cromwell. Field Marshal Montgomery was the third child of the God-fearing Montgomerys. His father, Rt. Rev. H. H. Montgomery, was a preacher of the Gospel and the son: of a famous English hymn writer, James Montgomery, who wrote many cherished hymns, as “Call the Lord Thy Sure Salvation,” “ God is Our Refuge and Strength.” H]s' mother, born at St. Mark’s vicarage in London, was the daughter of Frederick William Farrar, D.D., F.R.S., one of the most famous of Victorian clerics and a great theo logian whose top work, “The Life of Christ,” is a classic. In the Montgomery home long prayer sessions pre vailed. When the boys were old enough to understand, they were taken into the library for an interview with their father. These talks are indelibly imprinted on all of their hearts. “ Put God first in your lives,” was father’s theme, and all followed it to the word—none of the boys more thoroughly than did Bernard, now the Field Marshal. The love for the Word of God which flowed so deeply in the hearts and lives of his parents came down to Ber nard. General Montgomery’s mother is one of those Victorian women who know much of the Bible from mem ory. Her habit of learning a new verse each day has had a good influence in passing on to her children a similar love for memorizing the Scripture and hiding it deep in their hearts. The Field Marshal’s father died in 1932; but his mother still lives and goes daily to the quiet chapel in New Park, near her home in Eire, to pray for her sons. Influence No. 2 in Montgomery’s life has been Oliver Cromwell. That sturdy, Bible-waving English general is his ideal. Montgomery’s method of using the Bible to inspire his troops is not as aggressive as Cromwell’s, who,, with Bible in one hand, and sword in the other, would pass down the line, exhorting them to a spiritual fervor to match his. Fighting For God At Dunbar on September 3, 1650, Cromwell made that famous statement, now a battle cry of Montgomery’s: “They run! They run! ‘Let God arise and His enemies be scattered!’ ” ... Montgomery does not doubt that God is on his side. He. is fighting the war as much as a Christian as a pa triot, He sincerely believes that he is battling hand: to hand with the forces of evil. As such a crusader, he feels the need of spiritual strength from day to day. His busi ness as a soldier is to kill, but his business as a Chris tian is to show the way in which men can die without fear of death. In recommending the Bible to his officers and men, he knows that he is giving them the only solu tion to the life after death problem. Montgomery has been called ruthless. It is true that hib cannot tolerate “stuffed shirts.” As he gives himself unsparingly, he demands the best of every one else. After outlining the plan of battle to his staff members, he commits to them full responsibility for execution. If something goes wrong for which no satisfactory expla nation can be offered, he “sacks” the officer on the spot. Since his wife’s death in 1937, for whom he mourned a year in seclusion, his military career has been his only life; his only son is a student at Winchester in London. Winning the war is his sole aim. ... Hard as General Montgomery may seem,- his men would gladly die for him! They consider him a “man’s man.” They remember that in World War I he was once pronounced dead. They admire his Christian convictions. They do not look upon “Monty” as a “sissy.” How could they, when he goes into the battle first, when he lives as they live, sleeping where they sleep, eating the same kind of food? His personal interest in the welfare of each individual soldier has endeared himself to them. They
A Tribute by DR. DONALD GREY BARNHOUSE
Pastor of the Tenth Presbyterian ‘Churdi, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
In discussing the relative merits of various parts of the educational process, l have frequently told'young men that the two years spent at the Bible Institute of Los Angeles were the most valuable of my life’s preparation. If you put in one platter of the scales those two years, and in the other my work at Prince ton, my seven years in Europe in travel and study, and my years in the graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania, the two years at the Bible Institute would outbalance all of the others in preparation for usefulness for God. It.would perhaps be more correct to express it this way. Two years in the Bible Institute gave me my foundational knowledge of the Word and ways of God. The years, of course, have brought increasing knowledge of these things. All the rest of my study years merely enabled me to use ef fectively the truths that I had learned in the Bible Institute. My definition of preaching is as follows: “ Preaching is the bringing of all the experiences of life and learning to illuminate the Word of God.” If I had not come to the Bible Institute, I certainly would not have had much to illuminate. Many, many men .in Christian work may be likened to those who would construct for them selves a great battery of searchlights and then find that they had little or nothing on which to focus them. The Christian worker , who has the foundation of Bible Institute training haS the focal point on which all must be centered, and should then build up, to the honor and glory of God, as great a battery of learning and experience as possible, to illuminate the Word and ways of God for the needs of the people. soon find out that this is not only an interest in their physical well-being, but also in their spiritual need. It is cheering to realize that the lives of our fighting men are in the hands of a general who talks to God daily, who reads often from the Bible, who is fighting this war for other than material gain and whose desire above all things is to know that his men are receiving good care. There have been many Christian generals all through history—some as successful as Field Marshal Montgomery. But God seems to have given him a “secret weapon” all his own—the weapon of answered prayer and communion with God. We leave him somewhere on Europe’s battleground, a Bible in one hand and a sword in the other, wearing a beret and carrying in his pocket his favorite letter. It came from a Sunday School teacher in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A., and was signed by all of her pupils. It read, “We pray for you every night.” ' <
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