August 1925
TH E K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S
345
A D i v i d e d H ouse Inasmuch as The K ing’s Business F am ily is vitally in terested in every effort which is being made in defence of God’s priceless Word, so d ear to us all, we ta k e pleasure in tak ing ex tra space th a t we may give in fu ll th is statem en t p u t fo rth by th e World’s Christian Fundam entals Association^!! its Seventh Annual Convention a t Memphis, Tenn., May 3 to 10Ç1925. O d .
I The citadel of the false teaching of th is hour, as would be expected, is in our educational in stitu tion s; no t only in institutions of higher learning bu t in th e public grade schools; not only in sta te institutions bu t in denom inational in stitu tion s; not only is it found in the lectures of th e pro fessors but in the textbooks on science and philosophy w ith which our schools are ju st now flooded. While we are for efficiency and economy in adm in istra tion, and while we favor the highest stand ard of scholar ship, yet we look w ith grave apprehension on th e present day movement to force all our educational in stitu tion s, uni versities, colleges and grade schools to conform to certain and inexorable standard s of education, which- stand ard s were first “made in Germany” and la ter approved and enlarged by Chicago University. The so-called “ higher criticism ,” which is b etter desig nated “ destructive criticism ,” received its g reatest momen tum in this country w ith th e establishm ent of th e University of Chicago in 1892. In the words of an able Christian statesm an and editor, “we have b rough t before us th e mean- ace of the Rockefeller Foundation Fund. “ Some months ago one of the most distinguished phy sicians of Baltimore told me th a t the Hopkins— and I th ink he m eant mainly th e Hopkins Hospital— had received '$9,000,000 from the Rockefeller in terests and th a t no man connected w ith th e in stitu tion dared voice any opinion con tra ry to th e instructions from one man in New York who dom inates the situation. “ I have never discussed Mr. Rockefeller’s motives, bu t I have vigorously attack ed th e wisdom of Southern in stitu tio n s putting themselves under such obligations to th e Gen eral Education Board, or to any other g reat financial in te r est which could seek to shape the policy of its teachers and dom inate th e doctrines th a t they would teach. You can • readily understand th a t when an in stitu tion has received a large am ount of money from th e government, or from the General Education Board, th a t almost involuntarily its officials will follow suggestions th a t come from such a gov ernm ental departm ent or from such a financial organization. “ I said once- th a t if all th e evils charged against business combinations or tru sts were as g rea t as had been claimed, yet these evils in th e aggregate would be small in compar ison w ith the evils in education th a t could be brough t about by such gigantic sums of money helping to shape th e educa tional influences of th e country; and I added th a t if all the coal and th e iron and th e oil were held w ithin th e grasp of a few people th e power for evil would not be n ear so g reat as the power for evil if any g reat combination of capital should get its hands upon the educational work of th e country. “ In the m atter of the m aterial development we m ight be able to save ourselves from ruin, bu t in the m a tte r of edu cational work under th e influence of, or direction of a D epartm ent .qf Education in W ashington, or of such g reat combinations of capital as the Carnegie Foundation, the Carnegie Pension System, or the General Education Board, all the educational life of th e country m ight be shaped to
S much as lieth in you, live peaceably w ith all men,” and we, the W orld’s Christian Fundam en tals Association, have endeavored to heed this scrip tu ral admonition, bu t th ere comes a tim e in the history of th e church, as well as in th e history of nations, when th e enemy makes an attack and there is no altern ative bu t to .declare a defensive war. God Himself declared w ar on Satan and -his kingdom when He gave to the world His first promise of. a coming Messiah (Gen. 3: 15), and in the language of the Apostle P aul (Eph. 6 :1 2 ), “We w restle not against flesh and blood, but against prin cipalities, against powers, against the ru lers of th e darkness of th is world, against sp iritual wickedness in high places.” Therefore, we find our justification for waging this w arfare in Holy W rit itself: “Beloved, when I gave all diligence to w rite unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to w rite unto you and exhort you th a t ye should earn estly contend for the faith which was once for all delivered unto the sain ts” (Jude 3). Christianity has come to the cross-roads. We have come to Mount Carmel and The Issue in This P re sen t Conflict is th e W ord of God! W hat Deism was to its day, German rationalism is to this present hour. I t is the rejuvenation of th e ancient Gnos ticism, which attacked the au tho rity and deity of th e Lord Jesus Christ, against which teaching the Apostle P aul w rote (Col. 1 :15 -18 ): “Who is th e image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creatu re; for by Him were all things created, th a t are in heaven, and th a t are in earth, visible and invisible, w hether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers, all things were created by Him and for Him, and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, th e church; who is th e beginning, the firstborn from the dead; th a t in all things He m ight have the preem inence.” E ntrenched in Our Schools Christianity has been th e p atron as well as th e pioneer of higher education. The g reat universities of this country were founded by Christian scholars and endowed by Chris tian men and women. H arvard, Yale, Brown, P rinceton; ' D artmouth, V anderbilt and others owe th e ir origin to the labors and sacrifices of Christian people. All tru e Fundam entalists not only welcome bu t bid God speed to all scientific discoveries and research. The world owes an everlasting debt of g ratitud e to th a t g reat and hon orable body of men, the tru e scientists, who have given th eir lives in research and in labors, having as th e ir chief reward th e satisfaction th a t they have contributed to the world’s progress and alleviated the sufferings of mankind. Not only is there no conflict between th e supern atu rally inspired Scriptures and science, which is “knowledge gained and verified by exact observation,” bu t intelligent Chris tians and tru e scientists agree th a t every discovered fact only confirms and establishes the Word of God. Therefore, th e protests of Fundam entalists are not against higher education or tru e science, bu t against science falsely so-called; not against facts, but against assumed and changing hypotheses which are unsupported by evidence either in the realm of religion or science.
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