September 1924
TH E ' K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
551
Past, Present and Future o f tke Men o f tke June Graduating Class of 1924 It is a pleasure to give our readers the address delivered by the speaker representing the men of the June Class of 1924. Mr. Gutzke makes a very clear and satisfactory statement of the personnel of the men students, their diffi culties and problems, and sounds a note of appreciation for favors received from the Institute, of real devotion to Christ and a definite desire to serve Him. Himself from the farm, he is a splendid speci men of what two years’ training at the Institute, under the influence and power of the Holy Spirit, will produce, and it is this character of men which the Church so greatly needs. We are sure he will render valuable service to any church fortunate enough to secure his services.
COUNT it a high honor, and a privilege which I greatly esteem, to appear before you as speaker for the men of this Graduating Class, and that I may be a true representative, I have endeavored that simplicity and Godly sincerity shall mark that which I have to say. My address must necessarily be brief, and the material I present very limited, but it is our earnest desire that you, as members of the faculty, shall sense today our sincere appreciation of your efforts on our behalf — an appreciation which we feel will grow as the coming years reveal to us, more and more, the value and the sig nificance of your earnest labors; and, also, that as I give you a survey of the lives that today pass out of your imme diate care, you shall gain new inspiration to labor even more abundantly on the behalf of others, in the work and the responsibilities to which you have been called of God; and also that you, as fellow students, may receive some such encouragement as that which strengthened Elijah, when he was assured that there were seven thousand that had not yet bowed their knees unto Baal, when you become conscious, through that which I shall say, that you are not standing alone against the rising tide of skepticism and infidelity which seemingly threatens to engulf the great bulk of Christendom and sweep from their moorings many in whom you are interested, and for whom you are justly concerned; that you are not alone in your struggles to pro tect the children, and the weak in faith, from the deadly poison gas of Modern Theology (so called), which sweeps and creeps into our secular schools, our Sunday Schools, yea, even into our pulpits, and, like the very presence of death, leaves its devastating results in ruined lives, blasted hopes and doomed souls in the very places where once the pure doctrine of Christ was taught, where men glorified the Cross of Christ, and put their trust in the blood; that you are not alone, when you call, as watchmen of Israel, to the Christian public of this day to awake from their piteous, Laodicean lethargy, warning them that “While men slept, the enemy came and sowed the tares.” No, you are not alone, and we want you to feel it, and be strength ened and encouraged by that fact. And I hope also, that all who are here today as visitors and friends, may gain some true, and so, I trust, good impression of the men of this Graduating Class, who today finish their course as regu lar students of the B. I. O. L. A., and go out to join that ever increasing number of Bible' Institute students the wide world over, with whom and with whose work you are, undoubtedly, more or less favorably acquainted. I shall present to you something of the history of these men before they enrolled as students; something of our general experience while here this last two years or more, and, in so far as possible, something of the prospects that await us as we go forth. States and Countries Represented The 44 men whom I represent came from no less than 13 different countries and from five of the six continents of the world,—-South America, only, not being represented. Thirty came from this country, out of 15 different States in all parts of the Union. The three States leading numer
ically,— Washington, California, and Kansas— -have four each; the next three,— Minnesota, Kentucky, and Penn- sylvania-ghave three each; there are nine other States each sending one representative. This information will readily suffice to show that the presence of these men in Los Angeles is not the result of any “ community Spirit,” but because they were individually called of God out of many and varied lands and climes, to come here to study the Word of God. Denominations Represented In the matter of church preference there is a greater variety— 19 denominations being represented. Tliere are nine Mennonites, seven Baptists, six Methodists, six Presby terians, and the remaining 16 are scattered among other organizations. This will give you some conception of the Inter-denominational character of the group which I repre sent, and you will at once recognize that the mutual fellow ship which we have transcends denominational distinctions, and finds the closest union and harmony that many of us have ever experienced, on the ground of the Word of God, in the light of a common experience of regeneration, and in answer to a common call. Diversity of Occupations When we come to consider the previous occupations in which we were severally engaged the variety increases. We 44 were engaged in no less than 20 different occupations, when the Word of the Lord came to us saying, “Get thee hence to the Bible Institute and there I will show thee what thou shalt do.” The number engaged in farming heads the list for 17 of us were spending the most of our time on and around the farm before we came to the big white building on Hope Street near Sixth. Among the other 27 there were Teachers, Students, Salesmen, Clerks, a Laborer in Paper Mill, a Moulder, a Telegraphist, Law yers, a Gambler, a Missionary, a R. R. Brakeman, a Sur veyor, a Life Insurance Agent, a Bookkeeper, a Sailor, a Shingle Weaver and a Shoe-maker from Italy. Here again you will all see at once that it was not because of our pre vious vocations that we came to exercise ourselves in Homi letics and dig into Analysis, but there is clear indication that God in His sovereignty put His hand out and upon men on the farm, in the school, at the bench, even at the sea, and led them here to prepare for His service where He will lead. Contemplation of this one fact alone strengthens our assur ance in God as the Ruler and the Over Ruler, and our con fidence in one another as men chosen indeed of God. How Led to Come to the Institute The guiding hand of God can even more wonderfully be seen in the consideration of how each man was led to come to the Bible Institute, something of which I can give you only a very incomplete and imperfect conception. Many of us can not clearly set forth the separate influences, but we have made an attempt to designate the channels through which the strongest influences came. They are so varied that I could quite truthfully say that the 44 men were led in 44 different ways to come to this one place, but, in a (Continued on page 588)
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