July, 1935
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a great corporation who from a single well drilled at Newhall twenty years ago built up the powerful Union Oil Company. . . . Rather, they will turn their eyes to the building o f the Bible Institute that his faith in God and his desire to serve gave as a monument to his memory. They will recall how continuously and without one thought of self he gave. In the cause o f Jesus Christ, Lyman Stewart gave un- stintingly._ So great was his personal reward in the blessing o f God in his heart, that he longed that others should know this spiritual refreshing that comes from liberal giving to Christ. The Institute, therefore, is unendowed, but is de pendent upon the freewill gifts o f its friends for the mairi- tenance of its activities. The viewpoint o f her husband was recently described by Mrs. Lyman Stewart, who wrote: “M y late husband, Lyman Stewart, who, with Mr. T. C. Horton, founded the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, invested in it over a mil lion dollars. He left a trust fund o f considerable propor tions and wished both the principal and Interest to be used as rapidly as possible in carrying on the Lord’s work. This fund has been exhausted for some timé. Mr. Stewart often remarked that he purposely did not wish to endow the In stitute with money, for he believed that its endowment should be its multitude of friends who would carry on the work. The Biola Honor Roll is, I believe, a plan that will accomplish the very purpose that Mr. Stewart had in mind, and I can heartily endorse it.” The Biola Honor Roll is described on the baqk cover of this magazine. In remembrance o f the Lord’s servant whose sympathy, prayers, and initial gifts helped to make possible the founding o f the Bible Institute o f Los An geles, shall not the Lord’s children build into this institution the strength and humility thát come from multiple, con secrated giving? Prayer Needed for China W i t h i n the last: few weeks, word has come from Dr. Frank A. Keller, superintendent of the Hunan Bible Institute, thd China department o f the Bibie Institute of Los Angeles, regarding a serious epidemic in Hunan. While it is possible that in the weeks that have intervened since the letter was mailed, the spread o f the disease has been checked to some extent, the spiritual conditions of which Dr. Keller writes are still an urgent call for intercession. “ We want to ask,your very special prayer,” Dr. Keller writes, “ concerning a matter o f great importance. Chang sha and a number o f other cities in Hunan are suffering ter ribly from a severe epidemic of meningitis. All available space in the large Hunan-Yale Hospital is filled with these patients, and a large number have already died. “ In cities farther inland and in large country centers, this epidemic is having a serious effect on the work o f our evangelistic bands. Yesterday I received a letter from the leader of our Band No. 2. He wrote that the epidemic is very serious in the center where he and other evangelists are at work, and that the enemies of the gospel are circulat ing the report that this epidemic has come as a punishment from the gods because the people have been listening to and following the foreign religion. Mr. Huang, the leader of the band, writes that there have been a number of deaths from meningitis in the families o f those who have taken a special interest in the gospel, some of whom had been en rolled as inquirers.' The result of this scourge is that the attendance at the evangelistic services has fallen off greatly, and that three-fourths o f those who were attending the evening Bible classes have stopped coming. These condi tions drive us to more earnest prayer on behalf o f our evan gelists and o f the poor people who are sitting in such ter rible darkness.”
Strength and Humility J u l y 22, 1935, will mark the ninety-fifth anniversary of the birth o f Lyman Stewart. His life, as Dr. R. A. Torrey described it, was “ a rare combination o f strength and achievement on the one hand and of gentleness and humility on the other.” The history of Mr. Stewart’s life gathers mainly around two institutions, the Union Oil Company, o f which he was the President, and the Bible Institute o f Los Angeles. Side by side with the record o f Lyman Stewart’s eminence in the petroleum industry stands the evidence o f his whole-heart ed devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Late Lyman Stewart
Attracted by the twofold purpose o f the Institute, namely, the training, free o f cost, of men and women to know and to use the Bible in service in any field to which the Lord may call them, and the engaging in definite, ag gressive work among the unevangelized in this and other lands, Lyman Stewart linked hands with the early leaders o f Biola, with the result that the influences of his own life were extended far beyond the large circle o f his business associates, and reached, in fact, the very ends of the earth where his loyalty to Christ was felt. The strength and hu mility o f his life, joined with like qualities found in other believers, were, in the hands of God, the means o f build ing an internationally prominent training school for Chris tian workers, where the Word o f God is the Textbook and the Spirit o f God is the great Teacher. Lyman Stewart’s counsel and benefactions, with those o f his brother Milton, were woven into the fabric o f the Bible Institute’s history, and are being felt even today. A t the time of Mr. Stewart’s death, September 28, 1923, the Los Angeles Times published the following lines in an appreciation o f this outstanding citizen: After a long life, filled with good works and crowned with success, Lyman Stewart, pioneer, fighter, oil mag nate, philanthropist, has passed on. . . . The record o f his life is one of brave struggle, often against overwhelming odds. . . . But the grander part of that record is told in a far better story...........Those who gather to pay honor to Lyman Stewart will not be thinking of him as the head of
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