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February 1929
T h e
K i n g ' s
B u s i n e s s
sure foundation which can never be shaken nor removed. Upon this foundation it has been building and will continue to build, with the inspired assurance that its word shall “abide.” The inscription upon this corner stone, “Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood,” will ever tell to the casual passer-by the sweet, life-giving message of the blood, and remind the believer in Christ of God’s great salvation which His infinite wisdom and love devised and pro vided, as set forth in the wonderful doctrine of the blood,— that “the life * * * is in the blood,” and that “it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul,” “the. precious blood” of our Divinely appointed Substitute, upon Whom “the Lord hath laid * * * the iniquity of us all” ; that “without the shedding of blood there is n6 remission” of sins, and that “God commendeth ' His love toward us, in that, while1we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” This is the foundation' on which we are building, for “other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” Therefore our watchword is and ever will be, “Unto Him that loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, * * * to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever.” The Institute is still standing firmly on the foundation upon which it was originally established. It will continue to carry on its work of training young men and women in the knowledge of God’s 'Word, for definite soul-saving service, and in fullest cooperation with evangelical churches and other agencies that exalt the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. These institutions are full of textbqoks that ridicule the Christian belief. Think of a book like Parmelee’s “Criminology” urged by a college professor upon the immature minds of our student youth ! On page 109 he says, “It would be difficult to find a more anti-social and immoral religious doctrine than the Christian doctrine of the forgiveness of sins.” Do you remember what Clarence Darrow said when he was defending young Leopold, the brilliant student and dastardly murderer of the Franks boy? He said, “If this boy is to blame, where did he get it? Your Honor, it is hardly fair to hang a nineteen-year-old boy for the philos ophy that was taught him at the university. It does not meet my ideas of justice and fairness to visit upon his head the philosophy that has been taught by university men for twenty-five years.” Is it any wonder in the face of all this that we find ourselves thinking that the church will need a special baptism of wisdom, and a devotion, deeper, it may be, than we have ever known before, if she is to meet the crisis now before her and turn it to account for the glory of God? II. Purpose. I am not an adept with the French lan guage. I have quite enough difficulties with my own. I can perhaps make out as well as the American who had a smashing wreck with his automobile in Paris, and when the French policeman asked him, “Parlez vous Fran çais?” he said, “No, Chevrolet Coupe!” But anyway, the French have an expression that is spelled this way: “Raison d’etre.” It means the reason of a thing, why it exists. Evangelism is the “raison d’etre” of the church. It is just as much the business of the church to win men and women to Christ as it is the business of an auto mobile factory to turn out automobiles. Some one has said, “Evangelize or fossilize.” The church must increase numerically or cease to exist.
the only foundation which can possibly make the prospective great empire of the Pacific Coast permanent. For where the Gospel of the grace of God in Christ is faithfully preached, there the propaganda of hate, selfishness, . and lawlessness cannot dominate the community. Through the transforming power of the Gospel of Christ men are being constantly transferred from that class which is a menace to society, to that which upbuilds and supports it. Permanent g o o d government and civic righteousness are only possible through the faithful preaching and teaching of the Word of God. Enduring work must ever be built “upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner-stone.” The Institute’s missionary work will not be confined to our own coast, but a steady stream of Bible-trained men and women will, with increasing volume, be steadily flowing into the dark places of the earth, carrying the glad tidings of salvation. About seventy-five of its young people have already volunteered for this glorious work, and the vanguard of these invading hosts is even now in South America, Africa and China. It is hoped that in due time our Institute will have branch Bible training schools in all of these countries. For many months we have watched with great interest from day to day the preparations for, and the laying of, these physical foundations. They are laid deep and strong in imperishable cement, strongly reinforced with bars of steel. Humanly speak ing, they should endure as long as the granite mountains which look down upon our city. But the work of our Institute stands upon an infinitely more enduring foundation than that of these buildings, even upon the eternal truth of God’s holy Word,—a HE winning of men and women to Jesus Christ is quite the biggest business in the world. We will have no dispute about this. If it were given heaven to do angels would vie with archangels in hurrying earthward to undertake it. But this is not an angel’s job. It has been given to you and to me, this high privilege, this great honor, this great responsibility. If we should fail, so far as we know God has no other plan. He is depending upon us. As I think of this subject I find three words slipping into my mind with a minimum of mental effort. The words are (1) Problem, (2) Purpose, and (3) Program. I. Problem. The Church is face to face with a new and a trying situation. Of this every thoughtful preacher and honestly observant individual is profoundly convinced. Crime of every sort stalks among us with impudent, defying air. We have about one murder for every hour of the day and night. Social immorality flourishes like a green bay tree and marriage to an alarming extent has become a mere passing indulgence. Freudianism, Psychoanalysis, Free-love and sexual looseness in general have found place in the Uni versity curriculum until the stench of it smells to heaven. Worldliness has bored its way like a putrefying abscess into the very vitals of the Church. The University has become a slaughterhouse of faith. There is no use to wink at the results of Professor James H. Leuba’s Questionnaire. He took 1,000 names out of a book of 5,500 scientists, most of them teachers in our schools, and addressed them personally, and over half of them doubted or denied the existence of a personal God. He wrote to 1,000 students in nine different colleges and his answers prove that an alarming proportion of them after entering college “gradually abandon the cardinal Christian beliefs.”
A Program of Evangelism B y D r . W. E. B iederwolf
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