November 1930
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
511
teaching. During all of his years in college and in the postgraduate school, he maintained a shining testimony for the faith. The other two teachers in the Chemistry Depart ment are equally sound in faith and life, and competent in their work. The Physics and Mathematics Department in the same institution is equally striking in its personnel. The head of the department has his Doctor of Philosophy degree from Cornell University and was at one time a research professor in Harvard. In his laboratory he is constantly conducting experiments for various engineering firms and he is occasionally called to New York and other cities for consultation on problems in his special field. If one should come to this college town on a Saturday evening, however, he is likely to find this professor with a group of students conducting a street meeting, giving his testimony for Christ. The three other professors in this department have each two years or more of postgraduate study. Each one may be depended upon, not only to hold fast sound doc trine, but also to be engaged definitely in the work of win ning souls for Christ. The Department of Biology is even more striking than the two just mentioned. The head of the department has his Doctor of Philosophy degree from Ohio State Uni versity and has for years been known as an aggressive Christian man in the educational field. The other three teachers in this department each have the Master’s degree' and considerably more in postgraduate study than is repre sented by that degree. One is particularly well known for his evangelistic work. Every one holds the Christian doc trine of creation as opposed to the popular naturalistic view of evolution. Every one believes in the infallibility of the Bible. All of the work in the department is fully accredited and is approved by the American Medical Asso ciation. Students who have taken courses in these labora tories and under these professors have never been handi capped in later postgraduate work; but, on the contrary, many have made exceedingly brilliant records in medical colleges and in postgraduate schools of science. It would be just as interesting to describe the faculty members in all the other departments of this particular college, but the descriptions that are given are merely for the purpose of illustration. It is possible, with proper care and safeguards, to gather together a strong faculty of consecrated fundamentalist men and women, thoroughly competent in all branches of learning. S ome Q uestions F or T he F uture If the Lord tarries, there are many things which we must do in order to work together for the best advantage. In the first place, we must get rid of the idea that we are competing with one another as Christian educational in stitutions. The more fundamentalist colleges, Bible insti tutes, and seminaries we can have in America, the stronger each individual institution will be. At Wheaton we do not wish to have our friends think of us as promoting simply one college in the middle west. We wish to impress upon the minds of our students and our friends that we repre sent a cause. Petty jealousies over supposed competition between institutions always injure the jealous parties in the long run. In the second place, we must work out some plan for the exchange of credits. With the breakdown of theolog ical seminaries, the burden of the training of men for the ministry of the church has fallen largely upon Bible insti
In the School of Life
I do not ask fo r place among Great thinkers who have taught and sung, And scorned to bend
Under the trifles o f the hour — I only would not lose the power To comprehend. These lessons Thou dost give To teach me how to live, To do, to bear, To get, to share, To work and play, And trust alway.
—Maltbie D. Babcock.
tutes. We rejoice in the progress of the Westminster Semi nary in Philadelphia, the Evangelical Theological College in Dallas, and all such institutions. We mention these by name because they are new, not because they are the only ones to be trusted. The fact remains, however, that there are very few standard theological seminaries in America which remain sound in the faith. As between the funda mentalist schools, we should not advocate any system or plan which would in any way interfere with the liberty of each institution in developing its own curriculum. We ought to work and pray, however, for a treminology which would make it possible for us to exchange credits in such a way that the students will not lose valuable time and e f fort. A course, for instance, in the Epistle to the Romans in one institution may represent a certain number of hours of well-conducted recitation work under the guidance of a teacher who has had thorough preparation and years of experience. In another institution, however, no less loyal to the faith, a course in the Epistle to the Romans may represent nothing more than a few addresses delivered by a popular lecturer with scarcely any work required of the student himself. We should not criticize either the popu lar lecture type of work or the thorough recitation type of work in its own place, but there ought to be a system of indicating the educational value of the work taken in our Bible institutes, colleges, and seminaries, so that students transferring from one institution to another may not be handicapped. In the third place, some kind of efficient organization ought to be worked out through which the fundamentalist schools may be able to speak with a united voice before the educational and secular world. In this apostate age there are difficulties before us which none o f us can fully foresee. Whereas one may “ chase a thousand,” two may “ put ten thousand to flight.” One of our leaders has said that the great difficulty before fundamentalism is Napo- leonism. Each local leader wishes to dominate. Perhaps it would be better to say that the difficulty is extreme indi vidualism. We have all had so many battles to fight against modernism that it is hard for us to cooperate with one another. Prayer is the cure for all our ills. God an swers prayer. Surely, by the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we shall be able to work together and accomplish great things in the next few years in Christian education.
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