The Place Of Muskingum College In Christian Education -- By: W. O. Thompson

Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 90:357 (Jan 1933)
Article: The Place Of Muskingum College In Christian Education
Author: W. O. Thompson


The Place Of Muskingum College In Christian Education1

W. O. Thompson

Introduction

Permit me in my opening sentence to give expression to my gratitude and appreciation for the honor of appearing on this platform as speaker of the afternoon. The occasion is too significant to waste much time in apology for the speaker or in explanation of why we are here.

The memory today of the Rev. John Knox Montgomery, D.D. is so fragrant with the finest ideals of Muskingum College that it affects every other thought in our minds or words upon our lips. He was not only the prophet to his church but the friend in the college to the aspiring youth who here sought education. The long term of service in itself would have brought him distinction; but the character of that service together with the achievements of the years, constitute a certain testimony which cannot be misunderstood. The call to the Presidency and the response to the service might have been of little significance, but for the rugged character that lay back of a far sighted vision as to the place of the Christian college in the scheme of things which we sometimes call the social order. President Montgomery has won the affection and esteem of hundreds and thousands of educators, parents and students and is entitled to the undimishing gratitude of the church which he loved and which he served.

The circumstances under which we meet today are quite unusual in the history of American education. They constitute one of the finest tributes to the family that any Board of Trustees could pay. At the same time it brings to these young men the challenge of the hour to carry on not in the letter of their father’s life but in the spirit of his

life bringing into the institution the virility and energy of a new generation. I am sure that I speak for multitudes in addition to the Board of Trustees and Faculty when I declare that in these exercises we are bringing into office two young men who have earned their place and who at the same time face a challenge of a cooperative service in building the Muskingum of the next generation. The confidence expressed by the election on the part of the Board of Trustees is a great encouragement and looks toward the continuity of a spiritual quality in the service of Muskingum college most gratifying to all the friends of higher Christian education. These brothers must accept the challenge of that idealism in the spirit of magnanimity and generosity worthy of the best days of the past. They must face in their official duty whatever in the providence of God lies in the pathway of service.

In appraising the situation today we should b...

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