When Weighed In The Balance, Are We Found Wanting?

When Weighed In The Balance, Are We Found Wanting? WHEN WEIGHED IN THE BALANCE, ARE WE
FOUND WANTING?
J. N. ARMSTRONG.

I count myself happy for the opportunity and possi­bility of this hour. To speak to a young audience is always an opportunity pregnant with great possibilities, but to speak to a young audience, that, like a basket of rare fruit picked from the choicest vines of the vineyard, has been drawn from the best homes of this great country, is an opportunity that would humble afresh any heart that has sat at the feet of the Man of Galilee. In addition to this picked audience of aspiring and inspired youth, I have before me fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters and other friends who have come to this great meeting aflame with like visions of life.

Since my audience has been brought together by a school interest; since we are all brim full of zeal and devotion for the Christian school; and since this in itself makes it a potential hour for this school effort, I need make no explanation concerning my choice of subject for the occasion. I shall strike while the iron is hot. I can only judge your needs by our own and shall endeavor to give you such a message as I should be glad for Har­per College to receive. Were Abilene Christian College and Harper College to continue a hundred years, the schools would doubtless be just as needy and the message I hope to give you tonight would be just as timely.

After a quarter of a century of observation and ex­perience, I unhesitatingly say that I regard the Christian school an epoch-making undertaking; one that is fraught with the greatest outcome to the human race of all modern school efforts. In fact, compared with other advances in the educational field, it is infinitely greater.

Go back with me thirty years and enter with me a school in which every student is required to study and recite one Bible lesson daily. So far as we know it is the only one of its kind in all the world. Let us register as students and enter the "dean's office" for classification. What courses shall we take? Here is our chance: Much Bible, Greek, Latin and a little English, Science and Mathe­matics. Recognition? Credits? Let it not be named among us. Yet this was the beginning. Can you imagine your­self enrolling in that first school? Would you be guilty of paying your railroad fare from Texas to Tennessee to attend that school? A number of your brothers and not a few of your sisters did this very thing. I think among them was your respected and honored President and his wife. Those who did this foolish thing were so blest in the doing that they still thank our Lord for the strawr that turned their course to Nashville, Tennessee.

Although compared with the broad and comprehensive field of learning covered by our modern courses, the cur­riculum of that first school was crude indeed, it held us all in its vision. It became the mother of us all.

What courage it must have taken for the founders of that first school to make this small beginning under the very shadow of Vanderbilt and George Peabody. How these men. the equal in education and scholarship of any men now helping to maun the Christian school movement, must have had to despise their lack of means, grounds, buildings and equipment to begin their work in the Athens of the South! I wonder if we to-day who are guilty of an occasional boast of what we are doing, would have been brave enough to climb the Alps. My friends, I could gladly turn this meeting into a meeting of thanksgiving to God for the undaunted courage of the man who con­ceived and brought forth that first school. In thirty years the work has grown mightily! Our academies are recognized as first class high schools and our students are granted everything by higher institutions of learning that is given the students of the state high schools. We are empowered by the state boards of educa­tion to conduct the normal training class, and our students in it are granted their certificates on exactly the same terms as the students in the state high schools. Transcripts of work done in our colleges are worth their face value in the eyes of reputed best judges in this country of educa­tional values. By sending these transcripts into the offices of the state superintendents of this great country our students are receiving state certificates that entitles the holder to teach in all the grammar and high schools of the country. All of this means that our work, judged by others is the equal of theirs in value and deserves the same recognition.

We have done it, too, without money, in an age in which salaries of teachers, buildings, grounds apparatus, maps, charts and so forth form a basis of the valuation. Of the attainments we may be humbly and justly proud. But after all this has been said, what have we done more than others? What need of the world have we supplied by our struggling schools, if I have now told the story of our work? Are there not million-dollar school plants all around us now doing all the work that I have given us credit for doing, and more? Are they not doing it with more ease and less burden?

Every brick in our buildings and every map hanging on the walls represent keen sacrificing. Every book in our libraries, and every stick of apparatus in the labora­tories spell burden-bearing, and that, too, by those who are already supporting, by high taxation, well equipped schools.

Why carry these burdens? Surely there is a reason for our being in the world other than that splendid school work of which I have spoken. Else we make ourselves a group of fools. Truly there is a justification. Those servants of ours who climbed in that first school the un- climbable mountain, and handed to us the banner of victory, found for us also that solid rock. On it we stand today, else we are cumberers of the ground, "salt without savor", "clouds without water", "autumn trees without fruit". Our justification lies in this one claim, and in this one claim only—we are Christians; else there is no justi­fication for our being. Is it Christian? is the acid test to which every department, every course, and every school activity in which we engage must be put. Any school, any department, any course, and any school activity that cannot stand this test deserves to die. It is weighed and found wanting.
We cannot decide a course by the sanction of the crowd, by the approval of the church in which we may worship. We cannot travel a way just because it is legal, or even because it is just. The test is not. Is it the lesser of two evils? Is it commanded by the state? Is it in accordance with international law or the accepted code of morals of the majority? The supreme test is, Is it Chris­tian? Can it be followed without violating his way of life? We must not only sing the praises of Christ, but our lives must be hid with Christ in God. We must no longer live ourselves, but Christ must live in us. His motives, principles, standards and ideals must be ours. Apart from him there is not a principle of Christianity. He is the source of it all. We must believe, with a deep and abiding faith in Jesus' way of life. We must trust it as the most dynamic, powerful and compelling way of life. We must not be frightened, discouraged, or be caused to lose confidence in the way of the cross. With­out compromise, though faced by aroused public opinion, we must be faithful to the spirit, teaching, and ideals of the Nazarene. We must count all things lost for Christ's sake follow his way of life without qualification or com­promise. To increase the number of men and women in all lands who will not be swayed from following the leach­ing and example of Jesus Christ is the goal, we who are in these Christian schools must keep in our visions. Nor must we conclude that it is an easy route. Verily it is a way of self-denial. " If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." (Matthew 16:24). An old negro living in a rich tobacco district on be­coming a Christian suddenly ceased to cultivate that weed and on being asked why, replied; "I's a Christian now". The Christian grocer cannot conduct his business as other men who are not restricted by Christianity. The Chris­tian who would manage a movie must censor his pictures by the spirit, teaching, and life of the Christ. He can in faithfulness to Christ, have only such a show as that life will allow. He must be content with the business that a faithful application of this standard of measurement will make; he must be satisfied with the success he can attain under the hamper of Christianity. But I am not talking this evening about running a movie, or establishing a hamburger joint down town. I am stressing the only justification of Christian schools and making an earnest plea for their future. In no other way can we save the work either to ourselves or to the unborn. All too quickly we older ones must turn the manning of the work into the hands of you who are younger. You will find an almost unyielding force eternally tugging at you for changes that, if made, will mean the forsaking of every justifying principle on which the work stands. As Balak tempted Balaam, offering him great honor and promotion, so those who conduct this work are constantly being tried out. Pressure from within and pressure from without demands the popularizing of the work.

If the Christian school is needed; and if it is justified only because it is Christianity, let us be content with the schools we can give to the world, while faithful to the hampers of Christianity. With eternal vigilance, let us see to it that every school we build is Christian from the cellar to the garret. Let us remember that. No great departure comes in a day. Nor does it come up the front way and ask for entrance. It creeps in at the key-hole, under the door, through the crevices. Like a thief it steals in when we are unaware. Were we to inspect our school life ,as it is now lived on our campuses and in our halls would we find departures in the incipient state that would in another quarter of a century wreck the Christian school? How would a stranger discover we are Christian? Would he discover it by visit ing our classes in English, Greek, Latin and Mathematics, or even in finding us teaching Bible classes? Were he to drop into our devotional services at Chapel, would he find convincing proof? How would he test us out? Were our Lord himself to sit among us would he know by our fruits that we are Christian?

Every institution has a life, a spirit, and an ideal. The expression of that spirit, ideal and life is the only test of what sort it is. "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks" and "Out of it are the issues of life." Our stranger, therefore, must observe our life. He must see us on the athletic field, in our society work, in our treatment of one another. He must observe our attitude of mind to living issues. A school expresses its life in its daily activities. Is our college spirit Christian? Do we approve under the name of college spirit "tricks" that are in principle dishonest, immoral and wicked? How do upper-classmen treat the freshmen? Do they make them wear "the green cap" and sit on the foot-stool? How about our "color fights"? Do we allow a bitter, mean rivalry to grow up between the literary societies? Do we encourage it? Do we meet the "tricks" of other schools? Do we pay them back in the same coin that they give us? Or do we return good for evil? Two church schools in Kansas this very year were forced to draw up an agreement ,a treaty of peace, that the wicked school-fights and tricks played against each other might be stopped, so destructive to property and dangerous to life had this "get-even" game grown between them. They called it "College Spirit". But is it Christian? An old gentleman in Kentucky said to the boy preacher, "If I could keep the Christian's rule for one day, I would become a Christian". "What is the Christian's rule," asked the boy. From the old man came the prompt reply: "Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them." We can play just such tricks, and give just such treatment to fellow students, freshman or seniors, as this great rule allows. We cannot live in violation to it and still be Christians. The question is, is our fun Chris­tian in its final analysis? We are living life now, and the conviction and principles that govern us now in our re­lation to our fellow students will prompt us in the greater affairs of life. Therefore, I plead for a testing out of our every trick and spirit in the Christian school.

How about our Senior privileges? The Senior class is a finished product. In its members we may expect the best showing in actual results. Are they a spoiled com­pany, and do they expect to be handed around on a silver waiter? Do they expect the whole school to take off their hats to them because they are seniors? Do they love the chief seats in the synagogue and do they demand the best of all that's passed around? Or are they humble, easy to be advised, and voluntarily obedient to every rule and regulation? Are they peace-makers, and examples to all the school? Do they choose the lowly seats and wait to be asked up higher?

"He called to him a little child and set him in the midst of them and said, Verily I say unto you, except ye turn and become as little children, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 15:14).

"And Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. Not so shall it be among you: but whosoever would become great among you shall be your minister, and whosoever would be first among you shall be your servant; even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister." (Matthew 20:25-28). Are our seniors proud, self-important and too big to serve in the most humble and menial places? Are they ready to wash the disciples' feet? Are the]) ser­vants or, are they lords? "In honor", do they prefer one another? "In lowliness of mind," do they count others better than themselves? Are they, the finished product of our schools, the exponents of these principles of humility. When honor is to be bestowed are they ready to give away that the freshman may receive it? Do they in humility count the Juniors better than themselves. Are we Chris­tian in our "senior privileges"?

Ye seniors in this audience, feel not that I am your friend. I am offering to you the chief seat. I am invit­ing you to sit at the right hand of him, who was the great­est of the great; who first sanctified and graced the seat by occupying it himself. I am asking you to come up higher and to adorn the same seat for the freshman that are to follow. To you freshmen, I offer the same exalted seat. It is just as empty for you as for your esteemed seniors, and you in this Christian institution are obligated to fill it right full. The only difference between you and the upper class-men is that advancement, age and ex­perience increase obligation.

He that is great this evening, because he is a servant of men through Christ; because he humbles himself in lowly service; because he washes the disciples' feet, has even the world to pay him honor. Truly he sits among the Gods. Shall we weigh our efforts at entertainments and rec­reation, and will they be found wanting? no doubt all of our schools have been criticised for their "shows and theatricals". Admittedly the entertainment question is a real problem. It cannot be dodged. The craving for entertainment and recreation in man is as natural as the lamb's instinct to play on the meadow. But the satisfying of this demand of the child and of the old man, sur­rounded by a world drunk with the lust for entertainment is the problem. But the acid test, again, is, Is it Christian? Every reading, every play, every song and piece of music must be censored by our standard of measurement. It is safe to say that there are few plays written today that Chris­tians can give as they are written. They must be clipped and substitutions made. The costumes of those that enter­tain must be modest apparel.

All of our athletics, entertainments, class-organiza­tions, society rivalry, and various student organizations and councils must be passed under the measuring rod and all that will not bear the test must be eliminated from the Christian school. All this or we surrender our claims to be Christian. For student activities have become the large part of school life today. In these the life, spirit, and ideals of an institution are manifested, and the school that is not Christian in these cannot be Christian.

I crave to be understood. I should deeply regret to make the impression on this audience that I am dogmatic in my application of the standard to which we are obligated. I am willing for the most timid and unlessoned girl in this audience to apply the test to her own problems. I am glad to help her to see aright the Nazarene way of life. But finally I want her to look at that life through her own eyes. I want her to work out life, solve her own problems, guided by a faithful application of the life, as she herself sees it. But to be Christian she must be faith­ful here. I ask her to be brave enough to decide from that life what dress she should wear, how short it should be and how low the neck; to decide whether she should attend this or that show, and how much money she shall "put into a hat", a picture show, or soft drinks.

I am pleading for the faithful use of the measuring rod; a faithful testing out of our entire environment by the standard to which we are all obligated. The divergence of our paths will not be due so much to disagreement of whither leads our Lord's life; for his life is an open book of easy reading. The distance, therefore, between our paths will be due to our fear to follow the life-principles of the man of Galilee. We trust our own judgement rather. We do what seems good under the stress of circumstances, or pressure of conditions. The lack of Christianity in the world is not due to a misinterpretation, or misunderstanding of the Christ life, but to the world's dislike for that life. Men have never come to love that life or believe in the conquering power of it.

I know that deep down in your hearts you are pledg­ing yourselves anew to that way of life, your determination to help make all our schools thoroughly Christian is being deepened and the crying need for the success of all Chris­tian schools presses upon your hearts with a new energy; and a new hunger for more schools, made Christian by a faithful application of the Christ-life, gnaws at your heart strings.

I close therefore with a call for heroes and heroines for this battlefield. Were I a young man in the vigor of life, nothing would satisfy me a Ph.D. And the moti­vation in my toiling for it would be that I might give it with all it might be worth to the Christian school, I say give it, for hear me, young men, the Christian Col­lege can never buy it. Are your A.B.'s M.A.'s and Ph.D.'s too good for this humble work? Is your price prohibi­tive? I beg you to-night whose hearts move you toward this work forget that your scholarship and your degree have a market value. I .ay the best you have on the altar without money and without price. In no other way can the Christian school live forever. Every one of these schools that lives to-night does it because a few heroes and heroines forgot themselves, forgot they were worth anything in a money value, and have intemperately hazarded their life in the cause.