December 1925
T H E K I N G ’ S
B U S I N E S S
534
love for souls; and you will create in the convert Christian character of the highest type and command
But there is also a very distinct command concerning our obligation for the cultivation of Christian charac ter in the convert after he has made his confession of Christ as Saviour and Lord. After the foundation has been laid (1 Cor. 3 :1 1 ): “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ,” then the building must be erected,—a building which is to last after all. earthly structures are destroyed. We are responsible for sowing the seed which brings the unsaved into the family of God, but we are also responsible for the fruit produced in their lives. Some times, of course, because of circumstances, it is impos sible to do more than to follow the converts with our prayers; but when we receive them into our church fellowship, then we assume a tremendous responsibil ity concerning them. As parents, we recognize the obligation upon us for training our children, but somehow we are slow to recognize our obligation to train converts-—the babes in Christ—teaching them the great truths of the Word, developing their spiritual life-, deepening their desire for spiritual things, and instructing them in the great business ■of believers—fishing for men. Such tremendous potentialities are enshrined in one personality, that we are overwhelmed as we consider the duty resting upon us, as leaders and shepherds of the sheep. The atmosphere in which the new convert finds himself largely determines his future usefulness. If it is worldly and merely social, the convert is apt to fall away or become a worldly Christian; and a worldly Christian is a stumbling block alike to saved and unsaved. The true child of God thrives in a warm, spiritual atmosphere of real prayer and praise; real study of the Word; a real sense of the shallowness of a worldly life and the real joy of fellowship with Christ. After many years of contact with men and women, young and old, we have no hesitation in saying that young people, if they are given such an atmosphere in which to develop strong, sturdy, sensible, spiritual characters, and from which they can go out and live and labor for Jesus Christ, produce the very finest type of Christian service, The most foolish argument ever invented by Satan and accepted by church officers is that converts, and especially young converts, want a worldly “ good time” in the church. This is not true, but if it were, it would be a sad reflection upon Jesus Christ, upon the Holy Spirit and upon the church. A truly “ born- again” child of God despises such an attitude and so does the Lord. Young people respond quickly to an appeal to the heroic, and this is the-appeal which comes from the call Follow Me.” Hear what Paul says to Timothy: “Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, In word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity” (1 Tim. 4 :1 2 ). “Thou, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. * * * Thou, therefore, endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ” (2 Tim. 2 :1 , 3 ). Let us seek earnestly to build converts up in our most holy faith; inspire them to live lives of devotion to others; place the Christian life before them in exact opposition to the worldly life; give them an illustration of the teaching of the Word by our own fives and our
the commendation of the Lord, BRYAN’S BENEDICTION
Bryan lives! He is not dead. He is living m thou sands of lives. Many politicians of note are dead. Some Presidents are dead. But Bryan’s enduring mem orial is embodied in human hearts. He lived in the faith of the Bible, He loved His Ldrd. He manifested that faith and love to the very hour of his departure.. His name will be a household word in Christian homes until the Lord comes. His death on the “ field of honor” has enshrined him in the true Christian church, and his last days were his best days. Already .various monuments are being suggested to his memory, not in cemeteries, but in school buildings where the Bible will have its proper place and where tbe students will be taught to kneel and pray in Christ’s name for the Father’s’ blessing. Here is a notice of one such institution taken from “ The Methodist Protestant ” : $200,000 RAISED FOR BRYAN MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY About $200,000 has already been raised to establish the proposed Bryan Memorial University a t Dayton, Tenn., according to Alfred D. Fairbairn, of Washington, D. C., one of the originators of the memorial idea. Mr. Fairbairn said plans are under way for a nation-wide campaign to obtain the funds necessary to begin construction work by next spring on the “fundamentalist” institution. Mr. Fairbairn, former New York newspaper man, was among the fundamentalist adherents at the recent Scopes trial at Dayton and received Mr. Bryan’s indorsement of the plan, in addition to the latter’s pledge of $5,000 as a finan cial nucleus. Various Dayton organizations have pledged $100,000, he added, and George F . Washburn, of Manomet, Mass., has pledged $50,000. The necessary buildings will cost about $1,000,000 he continued, in addition to an endowment of about $5,000,000 to keep the institution in good financial shape. Dr. W. B. Riley, of Minneapolis, thinks a “ William Jennings Bryan University” should be located in Illi nois, and says in his appeal: “This was Mr. Bryan’s native state. In the schools of that state he secured his education. While yet in that state, he rose to eminence. Nebraska became the home of his political ascendency, and Florida—with its matchless cli mate— in consideration of his loved wife’s health, uttered ' to him the last and most efficient call for residence. But he was born in neither of them, and in the truest sense, he belongs to Illinois. “Chicago, or vicinity, is the ideal location. It was in Chicago that he secured his education in law,— the Very education that gave direction to his potent life. Chicago is only a few miles removed from the center of the United States’ population. Chicago is the seat of many skeptical universities,— the very institutions against which he made his fight for the fundamentals of the faith. Chicago is a place readily accessible to the men who must be chosen to administer the affairs of such a university. Chicago has also been the common meeting place of the executives of the World’s Christian Fundamentals Association and, in all probability, will so remain. “In and about Chicago are many influential Fundamen talists. There are a number of institutions that would cooperate and in some instances combine with the move ment; in fact, more of them than we dream might be easily incorporated into this great University. There are men who tell me that they stand ready to raise the money,— capable men who have the organization and the ability. Will the Fundamentalists of America rise to this auspicious hour— this God-given and never-to-be-repeated opportunity?” We believe that at this time a popular appeal to the Bible-loving people of our country would be followed
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