Bscofield Biography

8/3/2019 Bscofield Biography

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THELIFE STORY

OF

c. I. SCOFIELDBy

CHARLES GALLAUDET TRUMBULLEditor of .. T h Sunday School Times,"Author o f" Taking Men Alive," "Messagesfo r the Morning Watch,"" What Is t h Gospel?" etc.

NE W YORKI' OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

AMERICAN BRANCH: 35 WE ST 32ND STREETLO N D O N , T O R O N T O , M ELB O U R N E AND BOMBAY

Dr. Scofield at work in the Library at PrincetonDigitized by WholesomeWords.org


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Copyright 1920by

Oxford University Press American Branch

Printed in U. S. A.

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CRAPTERI.II .I I I .IV .V .VI.VII .VII I .IX .X .XI.

CONTENTSPAGE

How THE TRAINING BEGAN NAMING INGALLS FOR THE SENATE. . 13WO N TO CHRIST . 25 DARING TO BE A PASTOR " 41 REALLY STUDYING THE BIBLE . 56V ICTORY AND MISSIONS . . 66TH E REFERENCE BIBLE BEGUN. 75DRUDGERY AND GENIUS . 88 TH E DEBT TO SCHOLARSHIP . . . 97SATAN'S ATTACKS DEFEATED 108A s HIS FRIENDS KNOW HI M 115

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ILLUSTRATIONSDr. Scofield at work in the Library at Princeton. Fro1f.tispim

FACING PAGEDr. James H. Brookes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 36First Congregational Church, Dallas, Texas . . . .. 44Deacons and Elders of First Congregational Church,

Dallas, Texas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " 48Dwight 1. Moody " . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 52Extract from Dr . Scofield's Personal Bible . . . . .. 60Page-proof of Scofield Reference Bible . . . . . . . . 108Dr. Scofield as He Is To-day 116Dr. Scofield and Mr. Trumbull 124



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THE LIFE STORYOF

' : l ~ C.1. SCOFIELDI

AHOW THE TRAINING BEGAN

SMALL BOY lay flat on his stomach be-' ~ , 1 1 fore an open fireplace. He was notfr watching the fire; he was poring over a book.'I I t was not a boys' book, either; there were few'I such then, and they were not in the small

library of a frontier home. He was readingShakespeare. I f you had come upon him atanother time, in the same position and place,you would have found it was history. Thehome library held nothing frivolous, and hedevoured all he found.

The youngster had a genuine passion forknowledge. When he reached the age of twelvehe began to make a chart of universal history!His sisters laughed at him for it; but he keptright on. I t was not finished in a day or a

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'.f The Life Story of C. 1. Scofield Haw the Training Began 3

week, that chart; he had to remake it everynow and then, as he discovered that he hadleft ou t a whole country or an entire historicalepoch I But he kept at it until it was finished,down to the American Revolution, which washis terminus.

This boy was a great hunter-a hunterthrough the pages of books. When he foundmention of a certain person in his reading, hewould hunt through all other volumes that hecould lay hold of until he had found out moreabout that person. For example, he wouldcome across a reference to one Alexander, son ofPhilip of Macedon. Philip-who was he? Andwhere was Macedonia? There were two thingshe must run down. He kept after Philip andMacedonia until he knew something about both.

The reading of Greek history led to the reading of Greek Ii terature,-in translation, of course.Neighbors of his family learned of his interestand desire, and loaned him anything from theirlibraries that was grist to his mill.

The family were Episcopalians; rectors werepretty well-educated men, even in those days.The rector of the family of this boy was a cultured Englishman, a graduate of Rugby andOxford; and he gladly helped the boy to all the

Iigood reading that he had. And so, with eagermind, the boy kept on digging in books to getlearning. His unusual habit of hunting out andrunning down information concerning whateverhe came across trained him in thoroughness.He felt that he must get things at first hand.

The boy's father and mother were true Christians, old-fashioned believers. His father readthe Bible to him and encouraged him to readit for himself. Th e father was not" instructed"in the full range of Biblical truth, bu t he livedvery much in the Book of Psalms, and loved

1 David greatly. And the boy read his Bible les'1.1 sons, like any other boy in a respectable Chris tian family; but he did not dream that the Bible,t

I ~ I was a book to be studied like other books, andflIt} he gave it little attention. Yet what a prepara

tion he was getting, all unconsciously, in mentalhabits of thoroughness and of verification and offirst-hand study, all of which make for scholarship, for t he producing, years later, of the Reference Bible for which hundreds of thousands nowlove and honor his name!

Was the mother an influence in the life of thisboy and man? She died soon after his birth:died as a result of bringing him into the world.



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4 The Life Story of C. I. ScofieldPerhaps some might think that that answers thequestion in the negative. But as the mother laydying, the new-born baby boy by her side, sheprayed for him, and asked God that he mightbe a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.When the boy grew up he was not told this; thefather, with a strict sense of honor, told thesisters that young Cyrus must not be told ofhis mother's prayer lest he be unduly influencedby it, and enter upon a life-calling simply becauseof sentiment and from a sense of obligation toa dying mother's wish. Only after that boyhad accepted the call to the ministry and hadbecome, indeed, an ambassador of Christ washe told of his mother' s prayer. Yes, God hearsand answers prayer.

I t was amid the chivalry, the bravery, thehonor, the old-school standards of gentleman andgentlewoman of the South before the Civil Wartha t the boy was doing his omnivorous readingand forming his study habits. His family thenwere living in Tennessee. He had been born inthe woods of Michigan, in Lenawee County.Pure American Colonial ances try was his. Oneof the earliest sounds he can remember is thatof the crash of falling trees in the forest. Therein that open-air, pioneer life he came to love the

How the Training Began 5woods, and the birds, and animal life of everysort. He has never lost that love. He has itto-day with an intensity that might surprisesome.In spite of his prodigious love for study, theyoungster was a real boy, doing the things otherreal boys do. He had four sisters, bu t was theonly surviving son in the family, two othershaving died before his birth. One day, when alittle chap six or eight years old, he felt that hismany sisters were shamefully neglecting him;so "Bub " -as his sisters called him-and a little

11 friend decided to run away from home.They traveled all day, and at nightfall theyI encountered some wood-choppers who hospi, , tably asked them to spend the night before their.,,':1

great log fire. Th e following morning, somehow,;'fI : ~ the youngsters did not go farther, bu t retraced

their steps, dirty-faced and homesick. Theirstomachs had a sense of need, too; so they decided to stop at a farm-house and ask for something to eat. This they did at several farmhouses, bu t could not get up courage to ask formore than a drink of water, hoping each timethat there might be an accompanying cookie.Nothing bu t water came their way.

Finally the two little runaways reached home.



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6 The Life Story of C. 1. ScofieldNo special welcome awaited them, for the sistershad decided that they would act as though noth-ing unusual had happened. The son of thefamily was quite nonplussed, having expected anenthusiastic welcome.

Th e biographer is glad to record, however,tha t the boy's fa ther took him on his lap andgave him an extra tight hug, much to the boy'sdelight. And years afterward the father toldhim that he had not slept a wink that nightwhen his "wandering boy" was not under thehome roof with him.

I t was August 19, 1843, that Cyrus IngersonScofield was born. Part of the family movedto Tennessee while he was a young boy, and thatSouthern State was his home until he was seven-teen. The slavery of that region was of a mild,kindly, patriarchal form. Like so many othersin the South, masters and mistresses and slavesloved one another. When, after the war, some ofthese Southern families returned to their homes,and found not only no homes, bu t the farmsand the very fences burned down by the armies,with nothing left bu t the land itself, the oldslaves were sometimes found still living there,free, bu t desperately poor. And more than one

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7ow the Training BeganSouthern family mortgaged its land in order tocontinue to take care of its free but needy slaves.

The men of the Southland with whom youngScofield was brought up, while not religiousas a rule, had a profound respect for anythingcalled religion; they cherished a very high senseof honor; they were truthful, and they werebrave. This led sometimes to the foolish prac-tice of dueling; bu t the standards back of it allmade a deep impression on the boy.

Going on with his studies at the family homenear Lebanon, Wilson County, Tennessee, hewas making his plans to pass the examinationsfor entrance to the university. But just at thistime the Civil War came on and all Southernschools were closed. Enlisting at once, thoughonly seventeen, he had a four years' course inanother kind of college than that which he hadanticipated. He set to work as soon as thewar was over; and thus it was that he neverhad a formal collegiate or academic educa-tion. But how much greater an education hadhe acquired, both before and after those yearswhen he had expected to be within college walls,than many a college graduate! And from thatday to this he has never lost his love for studyand his desire for knowledge.



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B The Life Story of C. 1. ScofieldYoung Scofield had gone into the Confederate

Army, as a matter of course, with his boyhoodfriends and associates. Though not seventeen,he was a big fellow, tall, strong, though slender,and practically never sick in his life. " Raisedon a horse," he was a perfect horseman, andnaturally enough he was often called upon fororderly work. Learning how to carry vitalmessages, scrawled on a scrap of paper with thepommel of a saddle as a writing-desk, whileshells and bullets were falling, gave him adisciplinary training in carrying through difficult commissions. His position as orderly, whilehe continued as only an enlisted man throughou t the war, threw him constantly with theofficers and others constitut ing the staff, withall the influences and associations that thiswould mean to an impressionable boy.

Before he was nineteen young Scofield hadbeen' under fire in eighteen battles and minorengagements. The Cross of Honor was awardedto him for bravery at Antietam. He was twelvemiles from Appomattox when Lee surrenderedto Grant. Dr. Scofield to-day enjoys telling theincident of Lee's having said to Grant, after thesurrender, that inasmuch as Grant's armies hadcut the Confederates off from their supplies, their

How the Training Began 9men were in need of food; and he asked if theNorthern commander would be so kind as toissue an order permitting the bringing of foodfrom the Southern supply trains to the men.Grant replied that he did not know where Lee'ssupplies were, bu t he did know where the Unionsupplies were, and he would at once issue anorder that the Confederate soldiers be cared forfrom the Union supplies-as he promptly did.And young Private Scofield was careful to gethis share of those Union "eats," as he sayswith emphasis.

His life was not destined to be ended in thatconflict. He was no t twenty-two when the warwas over; and he went to live in St. Louis, thehome of his eldest sister. She had married intoone of the best Creole or French families of theSouth; and there the young fellow was plungedinto the French society of that great city.1"

'TI St. Louis was then the great fur market of theworld for original, uncured fur. And the rapidgrowth of the ci ty was making millionaires ofsome of the French people there. Scofield readand studied French, which was freely used asthe language of Creole society in St. Louis inthose days; he still uses the language in his



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10 The Life Story of o. 1. Scofieldreading. The influences of the European, extremely formal social life of that day wereentering into his impressionable years also.

His sister's husband, a man of wealth andhigh social standing and leadership, told youngScofield that he would back him in any line ofprofession or life-work he might choose to takeup. They talked over different professions together, and it came out that the practice of lawseemed the most attractive. Having settledthis, the question arose as to how the youngman would prepare for his coveted life-work.The brother-in-law had told him to call uponhim for whatever assistance he needed. It wasa time of test and of real struggle. But theyounger man met it by telling his brother that,while he thanked him ten thousand times forhis generous offer to help, he believed it was bestfor him to work things ou t for himself and provide for his own education and support. Hewanted to fight his own way; and he did so.

In order to get together money for his legaleducation, he started in at once as a clerk in anoffice for the examination of land titles-a lineclosely related to the law. This was a still further training of his mind for searching out things,and had its place in God's later plans for his life.

,How the Training Began 11

After less than two years' work in this office, hisdevotion to this technical branch resulted in hisappointment as chief clerk, being chosen fromamong the considerable number of young menin the office. This gave him a good salary.Now he made his plans to enter upon theactual study of law in one of the best lawoffices in St. Louis. That city had then, asfor many years, a remarkably strong bar. It was a treat for the young law student to gointo court and hear the able, brainy men of that day.

While still pursuing his law studies, and before being admitted to the bar, a very extensive and involved lawsuit in connection withthe landholdings in Kansas of his brother-inlaw's family was begun; and the family askedyoung Scofield to let them pu t the matter intohis hands for his personal charge and direction.He protested, saying that he had not the experi,

I'r\l ence or ability to undertake this. They would, not accept his declination, bu t insisted upon his

assuming the responsibili ty in their behalf, telling him to retain the best lawyers he pleased to insure the necessary legal skill. Yielding totheir urgent request, he went at the task in hisold way of studying things out and making sure



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12 The Life Story of C. 1. Scofieldof bringing all the facts together. Then he pu tthis material into the hands of his lawyers,-and among the brilliant lawyers retained byhim for this great case was John J. Ingalls.Scofield's lawyers won the case.

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TNAMING INGALLS FOR THE SENATEHE life of C. 1. Scofield up to the timeof his conversion is chiefly of interest as

having fallen within times of permanent historic import in which he bore a characteristicallyAmerican part.

The Scofield family is well-born and is tracedback for centuries to its English forebears.Indeed, one of the Scofield ancestors fought aduel with that ancestor of the poet Byron whowas called "the wicked" Lord Byron. And in avolume noted as Oxford Grants I, now in theHerald's College, London, is found the following:

"T o All and Singuler etc.: Forasmuch asCuthbert Scofeld of Scofeld in Countie of Lancaster, Esquire, sonne and heire of JamesScofeld, well borne and descended of worthy pro

t genitors such as have of longe tyme used andI boren armes as ap t and significant tokens oftheir race and gentry, . .."In witnesse whereof, I the said Norroy

Kinge of Armes have heereunto subscribed my18



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14 The Life Story of C. 1. Scofieldname this sixt day of March, in the yere of ourLord God 1582 and in the 25 yere of the reigneof our most gracious souveigne Lady QueenElizabeth."

As you enter the doorway of H Greyshingles,"the Scofield home at Douglaston, Long Island,you see on the wall at the right a quaint penand-ink sketch of an old English building, showing moat, and' bridge, and heavy oaken door.The Scofield coat of arms is there, and thesketch bears the inscription:

H Scofield Hall, erected 1550, Rochdale, Lancashire, England, from a sketch in RainesMSS., British Museum."

Thus of Colonial and Revolutionary ancestry,so strongly Puritan that, from Daniel Scofield theimmigrant (1639) to and including himself, everyman and woman in the chain of descent bore aBible name-usually chosen from the Old Testament-he was born, very properly for anAmerican boy, in the depths of a Westernforest. For the West was in its winning, andthe grandfather and father of that woodlandbaby owned large acres of primeval trees inLenawee County, Michigan. They had built adam across the Raisin River and erected a sawmill; but so much was it still a wilderness that

Naming Ingalls for the Senate 15little Scofield's grandmother had to defend hervery life against a drunken Indian, and hisfather's unerring rifle slew a wild-cat that wasbearing to her hungry brood a baby stolenfrom a frontier crib. Into such a life littleScofield was born.

And then came the first of the dramaticchanges of which young Scofield's life was sofull. A removal took the boy of the Michigansettlement to pass, as it turned out, the formative years of his early life in the absolutelycontrasted life of middle Tennessee during thelast years of the slavery regime-absolutelycontrasted, and yet no less intensely and characteristically American. I t was among aWhig aristocracy, educated, wealthy (for thattime and region), of easy, hospitable life, andof a plain democratic commonalty, honest,truthful, brave; who owned few slaves buttilled the soil in manly independence, keepingin their fat pastures blooded horses and herdsof high-bred cattle. I t is safe to say that nopeople ever surpassed these in the great primitive virtues of courage, integrity, and kindli

Ii' ness. Their accomplishments were to ride~ and shoot, and their intellectual interests were~ politics and sectarian religion.Digitized by WholesomeWords.org


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16 ,The Life Story of C. 1. ScofieldThe Civil War was the next dramatic chapter

in his life. Those years in an atmosphere createdby the great personalities of Lee and Jacksonfurnished an indelible lesson in his training.And then came his removal to St. Louis andhis preparation for the profession of law, begunby disciplinary training in a land office, as hasbeen narrated, and hastened by the great lawsuit of his brother-in-law's family, of whichhe was asked to take charge.

It became necessary for young Scofield toremove to Kansas, where the land interests involved in the Loisel family lawsui t were si tuated.Here he was urged to le t his name be offered foradmission to the bar; he underwent the severeordeal of those days, being examined by thethree lawyers in open court to whom his examination was formally assigned, and also beingasked questions, as was the custom, by anyjudges and members of the bar present. Havingpassed this stiff examination, he was, when abouttwenty-six years of age, admitted to the bar.Then the people of Atchison, Kansas, electedhim to the State legislature. After two yearsof experience as a young legislator, serving aschairman of its Judiciary Committee, he removed to Nemaha County, where the Loisel

N a m ~ n g Ingalls fOT the Senate 17lawsuits were pending, and here he was againand at once elected to the legislature.

I t will be remembered that the long andacrimonious discussion of the attempt to includethe Territory of Kansas within the number ofStates in which slaves might be held had broughtinto that Territory an unusual number of theablest young men from both the North and the

" South-a fact which invested life in the youngState with peculiar interest. Every possibleissue was discussed down to the final word,though the heat engendered by the slaverydiscussion had ceased with the ending of theCivil War.

Among the ablest and best-trained of thei iI' , young men who had been drawn to KansasI by the slavery agitation was John JamesIngalls, of Atchison, graduate of WilliamsCollege, a natural wit and orator, and withwhom young Scofield was associated in theLoisel land case.

Then occurred an event that arrested in asingular degree the attention of the nation.The senior United States Senator from Kan

sas, Samuel C. Pomeroy, had become notoriousthrough land-corruption deals. His term in theSenate was expiring, and he was a candidate



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The Life Story of C. I. Scofieldfor re-election. Young Scofield, like some others,was satisfied that Pomeroy was buying votes.A small bu t earnest anti-Pomeroy element ofState legislature men were holding a series ofmeetings in a hall in the State capital, Topeka.Their leader came to Scofield one afternoon andasked him bluntly where he stood on Pomeroy'sre-election.

"Against Pomeroy," was the prompt reply.The anti-Pomeroy man was interested, and

said he wanted to talk freely with Scofield.Then he asked the question, "Have you a manto nominate in his place?"

" Yes," came the reply again: " John J. Ingalls.Bu t," added Scofield, " I don't want to seeIngalls nominated, just to have him defeated."

At this the anti-Pomeroy man answeredearnestly, "I know that Pomeroy will be defeated. Will you, without asking any questions,take my word for this?"

Scofield thought it over for a moment, andsaid he would. He wired to Ingalls to comeover to the capital, which was done by engaginga special train to bring him. Immediately uponhis arrival he and Scofield conferred together.Scofield laid the facts as fully before his olderfriend as he could. Ingalls was impressed, and

Naming Ingalls for the Senate 19after earnest conference he asked the youngerman, "What do you advise?"

"You ought to do it," came the reply.Ingalls said frankly that he did not believe

his election was possible under the circumstances; but he was ready to follow the counselof his friends; and he authorized him to saythat he, Ingalls, would accept the anti-Pomeroynomination.,,' The anti-Pomeroy leader had told Scofieldthat their group were going to remain in session through the night preceding the election,not leaving the hall, and even having theirbreakfasts brought in, in order to see thematter through. At one o'clock in the morning Scofield entered the hall where they weremeeting, with Mr. Ingalls on his arm. Ingalls,a fine-looking, tall, slender man, then madea powerful address for clean politics in Kansas.The entire group had their breakfast together,and went over in a body to the House ofRepresen ta tives.The Pomeroy cohort had already assembled.A little later the senators marched in. TheLieutenant-Governor, as was the custom, presided.

Mr. Pomeroy was nominated to succeed him

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r!ilO The Life Story of C. 1. Scofieldself as Senator of the United States, in a speecnin which his "great services" to the Sta te ofKansas were fully rehearsed.

Then Senator York, the leader of the anti-Pomeroy forces, rose to his feet, deathly white.Scofield looked at him, and was afraid he wouldnot be able even to use his voice, s overcomeby emotion did he seem. But in a moment, tothe utter amazement of all who heard him, hesaid: "Mr. President, I rise to second the nomination of S. C. Pomeroy." [RepresentativeScofield was not then a converted man, and hedecided then and there that after the meetinghe would take the senator outside and thrashhim.] "But," went on Senator York, reachingto his hip pocket, and drawing ou t a largebundle of something, "not to a seat in theUnited States Senate, bu t to a cell in the Kansas State Penitentiary at Leavenworth." Hethen called to his side one of the boy pages ofthe legislature, and continued: "Mr. President,I am sending you by the innocent hand of thisboy seven thousand dollars in greenbacks thatwere handed me last night by S. C. Pomeroy formy vote."

The bundle of money was carried up to thedesk of the Lieutenant-Governor, and there, in

Naming Ingalls for the Senate !illthe presence of all, it was laid in plain sightupon a book. There was a silence like deathover the entire hall of representatives.

In that strange silence Scofield rose andnominated John J. Ingalls to the United StatesSenate. Member after member rose to secondthe nomination.

The Lieutenant-Governor, his face tense withexcitement, asked if there were any other nominations. None was offered. And then an amazing thing happened. The vote was taken; andevery vote cast was for John j . Ingalls. Even

~ I t' the man who had nominated Pomeroy voted'I; for Ingalls! And many another legislator there,~ j \ wi th Pomeroy's money in his pocket, dared not

do otherwise than repudiate his man and comeou t in the solid vote for decency and honesty.

There was another dead silence, as the presiding officer rose and, in a shaking voice, said:"Every ballot has been cast for John J. Ingalls.I hereby declare him duly elected Senator fromKansas for the United States."There were shouts of "Ingalls! Ingalls!"

"Mr. Scofield, do you know where Mr. In-galls is?" asked the Lieutenant-Governor. "Canyou produce him?"

"I think I can, sir," answered young Scofield,I'Digitized by WholesomeWords.org


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" ."'.' ',~ The Life Story of C. I. ScofieldU if the house will continue in session for twenty.mutes."

He disappeared, and in five minutes he wasback with Mr. Ingalls. Dazed by the suddenness and utter unexpectedness of the event, Mr.Ingalls made a brief address of acceptance ofthe nomination, amid the cheers of senators andlegislators. And for eighteen years from thattime Ingalls served in the United States Senate,through successive re-elections.

I t is not surprising that General Grant, thenPresident of the United States for his secondterm, appointed C. I. Scofield United StatesAttorney for the District of Kansas. Th at included not only the entire State of Kansas, butalso what is now much of Oklahoma-thenIndian Territory. The young legislator wasthe youngest United States attorney at thattime in the United States-scarcely thirty yearsold. And the office that he held was part icularlyimportant, because the United States was thenremoving the roving Indians of the plains tofixed reservations, which meant unusual workfor the District Attorney's office.

Among other things that the Governmentinstructed United States District Attorney

Naming Ingalls for the Senate 28Scofield to do was to stop certain men who weretaking whisky into Indian Territory and sellingit to the Indians. Scofield secured an escort ofcavalry and went after these men. He would havebeen shot down instantly by them if they couldhave done this. But he rounded up some of theworst men in this law-breaking liquor business,and brought them back to Leavenworth.

At the trial, necessarily most of the DistrictAttorney's witnesses were Indians-and Indianswho could not speak a word of English. It wasa strange scene that went on in the court-room,

Ir'I as an uncouth-looking half-breed interpreted forthe Indians. But the case proceeded, the defence for the liquor men trying in vain to breakdown the testimony of the Indians, and theIndians themselves made a favorable impression by their evident honesty, and respect, andreverence for the Great Spirit when the question of the nature of an oath came up, and itended by the conviction of the liquor men.

When, later in the day, Scofield went to thelodgings where he had had his Indian witnessesentertained, he found the leading one, a stately

I chief named "Powder Face," squatting on abed. As the District Attorney entered theII room, the Indian quickly raised his left hand



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24 The Life Story of C. I. Scofieldhigh over his head, with his right hand pattedhis heart, and smiled-and a smile is a veryrare thing to see on the face of an Indian.What it meant was, "I love you." And theinterpreter explained to Scofield, " Powder Facewould die for you now, after making that sign.I t is a pledge of eternal friendship."

IIIWON TO CHRISTI' T HE political life into which young Dis-tri ct Attorney Scofield now found himself

~ J plunged, by virtue of his Federal office and~ ; \ work, involved frequent trips from Kansas to

Washington, and associations and activities thatwere not entirely to his liking. The professionof law was his life choice; his political work wasinterfering with that. He had, indeed, becomevery much dissatisfied with his own life; he wasnot living up even to his own ideals, uncon-verted man though he was. So after two years'service as United States District Attorney he re-signed the office and returned to St. Louis toI

I. practise law.The drinking, loose ways of the political crowd

upon whom Scofield had now turned his backhad not been to his liking, nevertheless he him-self had been living not at all as a Puritan.The moderate use of liquor was a common-place in the life in which he moved and hadbeen reared. He drank as he pleased, and,

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26 The Life Stcny of C. I. Scofieldlike most men who drink "i n moderation," hesoon drank too much.

From 1865 until 1879 his life was intense,largely a life of combat in courts and politicswhich not seldom became extremely embittered.He says himself of that period: " It must notbe forgotten or suppressed that the habit ofdrink during this period became fastened uponme, for it is due to my adorable Lord that Hisperfect and instantaneous deliverance of meshould be made known, as I have testified againand again in meetings."

After taking up again in St. Louis the practice of law, a young man of about his own age,Thomas S. McPheeters, became one of his intima te friends. McPheeters was the son of awell-known minister and godly man of greatinfluence, who was pastor of the F irst (Southern)Presbyterian Church of that city. Another sonof that father is Prof. William M. McPheeters,of the Southern Presbyterian Theological Seminary at Columbia, S. C.Scofield's father and mother had been true,old-fashioned believers. He was not. He hadgone to Sunday-school as a boy because he wasmade to go. He hated to go; it made little impression upon him; and he learned little there.

Won to Christ 27He heard many a sermon, bu t none that affectedhim in any way until after his conversion.

In his St. Louis law office, one day, McPheeters came to see him. After talking awhile, McPheeter.s got up to go. With hishand upon the door-knob, he turned and facedScofield, saying: "For a long time I have been

.. wanting to ask you a question that I have been,,. afraid to ask, bu t that I am going to ask now.""I never thought of you as 'afraid, '" saidScofield in hearty friendship. "What is yourquestion? ""I want to ask you why you are not a Christian?" came the unexpected reply.Now Thomas McPheeters was an outspokenChristian himself, utterly devoted to his Lord,and a real soul-winner, at the same time a society man in the best sense of that word, mingling with the best social life of his day. He andScofield had much in common-except Christ.

The lawyer replied thoughtfully: "Does notthe Bible say something about drunkards having no place in heaven? I am a hard drinker,McPheeters."

"You haven't answered my question, Scofield," the other man came back. "Why. areyou not a Christian?"



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28 The Life Story of C. 1. Scofield"I have always been a nominal Episcopalian,

you know," said Scofield, "but I do not recallever having been shown just how to be a Christian. I do not know how."Now McPheeters had his answer. He drewup a chair, took a Testament out of his pocket,

and read passage after passage from the precious Good News, plainly telling his friendhow to be saved. "Will you accept theLord Jesus Christ as your Saviour?" heasked."I'm going to think about it," said Scofield."No, you're not," answered McPheeters.

"You've been thinking about it all your life.Will you settle it now? Will you believe onChrist now, and be saved?"The logical-minded, clear-thinking lawyer

liked clean-cut statements and unequivocal questions and answers. After a moment 's thoughthe looked his friend full in the face, and saidquietly, "I will." The two men dropped downon their knees together. Scofield told theLord Jesus Christ that he believed on Him ashis personal Saviour, and before he arose fromhis knees he had been born again: there was anew creation, old things had passed away, behold, all things had become new. Thomas S.

Won to Christ 29McPheeters had been used of God to leadC. 1. Scofield to Christ.

An old friend of McPheeters, Mr. J. 1. Woodbridge, of Pueblo, Colorado, upon reading thisincident, has written to the biographer:

"I t was a privilege to know Mr. McPheeters,or Tom, as his friends knew him. Big in bodyand soul, he carried the Saviour about with himall the time; or, rather , the Saviour carried him.I know the account you give is accurate becauseit is just the way he would go about it. Itseemed as if he could approach any man onearth on the subject with perfect confidence.His life was all the Christian life, in business aselsewhere. Welcome everywhere, to all classes,his genial frankness and bonhomie swept everything before it. We were fellow commissionersto the General Assembly of the Southern Presbyterian Church at Nashville in 1904, and in hisspeeches there his great magnetism affected thelarge audiences just as it did individuals. Hisinfluence, perpetuated through Dr. Scofield andthousands of others, will never die."There have been all sorts of inaccurate and

misleading stories of the conversion of Dr.Scofield. Passing from mouth to mouth, someofthese have gained currency, and, as he says him



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80 The Life Story of C. I. Scofieldself, he long ago gave up hope of denying or correcting them. But these facts have been givenhere as they actually occurred, and as Dr.Scofield wishes them to be known. Shortly before this chapter of the Life Story:went to press inits serial publication, the writer received a letterfrom Dr. Scofield that he gladly incorporateshere, so that many may rejoice in the marvel ofits testimony:

"Such successes as I achieved in my life in theworld of selfish aspiration might easily be madeso prominent in my life story as to leave my conversion an event like the others. I owe it to theLord and to my boundless indebtedness to Hisgrace to do what I may to correct the notion thatit was a brilliantly successful man who, in myperson, came to Christ.

"Great opportunities had indeed been givenme, and for years I made them my own. Butslowly, insidiously, the all but universal habit ofdrink in the society and among the men of mytime overmastered me. I t was not a victor in theba ttle of life-though victories had come to him- bu t a ruined and hopeless man who, despiteall his struggles, was fast bound in chains of hisown forging. He had no thought of Christ

Won to Christ 81other than a vague respect, the survival of afamily influence. There was no hope that ina church some time he might hear and believethe Gospel, for he never went to church.

"And then Jesus Christ took up the case.Men were beginning to turn away from him,bu t the Lord of glory sought him. ThroughThomas McPheeters, a joyous, hopeful soul,Jesus Christ offered Himself to that wreck.

"It was a Bible conversion. From a wornpocket Testament McPheeters read to me thegreat Gospel passages, the great deliverancepassages, John 3: 16; 6:47; 10:28; Acts 13:38,39, and the like. And when I asked, like thePhilippian jailer of old, 'What must I do to besaved?' he just read them again, and we knelt,and I received Jesus Christ as my Saviour.And-oh! Trumbull, pu t it into the story, putit big and plain: instantly the chains werebroken never to be forged again-the passion ifor drink was taken away. Put it 'Instantly,'dear Trumbull. Make it plain. Don't say: 'H estrove with his drink-sin and came off victo'r.'He did nothing of the kind. Divine power didit, wholly of grace. To Christ be all the glory.

" Yours in His love,"C. I. SCOFIELD."



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32 The Life Story of C. I. ScoftfJtdThe writer of this life story knows too well

tha t no Christian ever, under any circumstances,"strove with his sin and came off victor," tosuggest any such false interpretation as that forthe victory of the Lord Jesus Christ in the lifeof this now veteran saint. The secret of Dr.Scofield's "Victorious Life" is the same andonly secret of the Victorious Life of every believer, wherever such victory is experienced: he"let go, and let God"; he did not try to addhis efforts to God's finished and perfect work.He yielded and believed: and the Captain ofhis Salvation, instantly making him more thanconqueror, led him in triumph.

Lawyer Scofield was saved, and he knew it .For Thomas McPheeters knew the Gospel, andhe had made it perfectly plain to his friend.There was no vagueness or uncertainty in McPheeters' appeal, nor in Scofield's acceptance.From that day to this he has never had anydoubt that he was at that time, in the cityof St. Louis, at thirty-six years of age, in theyear 1879, born again through faith in the Sonof God.Christ came in, and drink went out. Themiracle of the Victorious Life was instantly

33on to Christwrought for him and in him: he lost all desirefor drink then and there. God took it. I twas gone.

The man who has passed from death intolife, from bondage into freedom, from defeatinto victory, cannot help telling about it. Morethan once Dr. Scofield, after he had entered theministry and was giving his whole life to Christian service, testified to his deliverance from thedrink habit. And years later, when he wasD. 1. Moody's home pastor at Northfield, Mr.Moody, then his devoted friend, was led tospeak to him about this, and advised against it.Mr. Moody said he had noticed that Dr. Scofield would from time to time, in his publicmessages, tell of his former bondage to drinkand of his deliverance, and he said he believedhe ought not to do this except in revival meetings where drinking men might be present: thatany sin of that sort was in the past, under theblood of the Lord Jesus, and now solely a matter between God and Scofield, and not for thegeneral public.Dr. Scofield appreciated Mr. Moody's feeling,and, in giving full recognition to the suggestion,replied that of course Mr. Moody would recognize that he must leave himself in the hands of


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~ } The Life Story of C. I. Scofield Won to Christ 35the Holy Spirit as to this, for whatever guidance after conversion had gone into Y. M. C. A.He might indicate. work; and he had come under the influence ofA short time after the conversation Dr. Sco Dr. James H. Brookes, the remarkable preacher,field was speaking at Northfield, addressing an pastor, and Bible teacher of St. Louis. Scofieldaudience of about eight hundred Northfield stu quickly got into Christian work and Y. M. C. A.dents. And during the course of his address he service, and he was fortunate in securing thewas strongly led to give the testimony of his personal friendship of Dr. Brookes early in hisown deliverance, years before, from the power of Christian life. He got into the habit of goingdrink, through the sufficiency of the Lord Jesus to the home of that Spirit-guided and illuminedChrist. God used his testimony that day mighti Bible teacher, and there studying the Biblely and blessedly in the lives of the students. under his direction.After the service was over, Mr. Moody went There were probably few if any men of theto Dr. Scofield and said, with characteristic last fifty years in North America who did asimpulsiveness and intensity: "Scofield, you take much to influence and guide the Bible studythe advice of the Holy Spirit hereafter, and not and Christian life of the sound Christian leadersof D. 1. Moody." of our generation as James H. Brookes. He

was peculiarly blessed of God in making plainAfter the young lawyer's conversion, Mc dispensational truth and the great fundamentalsPheeters, now infinitely more his friend in of the prophetic study of God's Word. To-day,Christ, brought him at once into association more than forty years after Dr. Scofield. firstwith strong Christian men. The St. Louis came under that remarkable man's influence, heYoung Men's Christian Association secretary at says of him:tha t t ime was Walter C. Douglas, the well-known "James H. Brookes was the greatest BibleY. M. C. A. worker who was later the general student I have ever known. His great strengthsecretary at Philadelphia, and who has had a lay in the fact that he held truth in balance-long career of useful Christian service in this he always balanced whatever truth he was givfield. Douglas himself had been a lawyer, and ing by some other truth; that is, whether he

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S6 The Life Story of C. I. Scofieldmentioned the other truth or not, he held it atleast in his mind over against the truth thathe was giving, and thus was kept from unbal 1anced or false emphasis.

"Dr. Brookes was an amazing blessing to me,bu t never more than in telling me this: 'Thereis no such thing in the Bible as an abstract proposition. Everything in the Bible is meant tobe turned into life. I t must first of all begrounded in doctrine. There is such a thingas experience which is real but which is notfounded on Scripture; then it becomes eitherfanatical or a discouragement. Therefore, weare always to interpret experience by Scripture-never Scripture by experience. There is always in Scripture a doctrinal basis, and thereis always in Scripture an account of an experience based on that doctrine; and this accountis perfectly accurate because it is inspired.'"

A St. Louis man, C. E. Paxson, who madeyoung Scofield's acquaintance at the Y. M. C. A.soon after his conversion, was seated in hisown office one day with a brand-new Biblebefore him, which he was marking. Scofieldcame in, and seeing what he was doing, exclaimed, with consternation: "Why, man, youare spoiling that fine new Bible!" DR . JAMES H. BROOKESDr. Brookes was Dr. Scofield's first Bible teachel. Of him to-day he says,

"H e was the greatest Bible student I have ever known."

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Won to Christ 87For answer Mr. Paxson pointed him to the

place in the eighth chapter of Acts where hehad underscored the fifth verse, reading: "ThenPhilip went down to the city of Samaria, andpreached Chris t unto them." This he had connected by a light line with the eighth verse,which he had also underscored, reading, "Andthere was great joy in that city." Scofield sawthe point at once, and became an advocate ofBible-marking. Many years after he was accustomed to greeting his friend Paxson with thewords: "Here is the man who first taught meto mark my Bible."

When the young convert and Christian workerlooked around for a church home, he was ledto join the Pilgrim Congregational Church, ofwhich Dr. C. 1. Goodell was pastor, makingthis choice because of the warmth of personalfriendship that he had found in Dr. Goodell.Goodell and Brookes were great friends, andDr. Brookes told Scofield that he believed hehad done well in connecting himself with Dr.Goodell's church, "For," he said, "he is the greatest pastor I ever saw; and I'll see that you get

:I the Bible teaching you need."A man of Scofield's intensity, and natural

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SR The Life Story of C. I. Scofieldleadership, and love of activity and expressioncould not keep still in his Christian life. Hesoon got to leading meetings, and even to preach-ing a little. He felt that the hand of the Lordwas upon him.

His Y. M. C. A. friend, Walter Douglas, intro-duced the young converted lawyer to the presi-dent of one of the railroads that came intoSt. Louis, and asked the railroad man if Sco-field might hold religious meetings for railroadmen at East St. Louis, at the "bridgehead."This was where many trains and different roadscame in before crossing the bridge to St. Louisproper; it was a locality infested with saloons,and with numbers of railroad men loafing aroundwaiting the opportunity to take their own trainsacross.

The railroad president gave his cordial per-mission for the holding of such meetings; butthose who knew of it were skeptical-the menwouldn't come, they said.

Scofield tried his hand at it, however, andhe soon found that he could not make muchheadway in getting a hearing among the roister-ing, indifferent railroad men of that day. Aboutthat time he was led to befriend a railroad manwho was sick. He saw to it that the sick man

Won to Christ 39had a good doctor, and whatever else wasneeded. This Jim Turner, a freight conductor,not only found his health under Scofield's lovingministry, bu t he found his Saviour also. Thenhe went back to the tracks with his new friendScofield; hewould stand alongside and shout out atestimony for Christ, telling his railroad pals thatthey must listen to the man who had come to bringthem a message. Things went better now, andJim himselfwas soon made a railroad Y. M. C. A.secretary-a novelty for those days.

With a vision ahead of his time, Scofield sawthe need of a building for railroad men wherethey could write their letters and sit aroundand take things easy inside decent rooms insteadof having to frequent the barrooms for warmthwhile waiting for their trains. This sugges-tion was brought before the railroads; theysaw the wisdom of it and acted upon it. Theresult was that a railroad Y. M. C. A. buildingwas pu t up then and there, and Scofield increas-ingly won the confidence of the" men of steel."He continued to visit the sick men and thefamilies of others; and now, when he preachedChrist among them, he won souls.

I t was in the spring of 1882 that the super-Digitized by WholesomeWords.org


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40 The Life Story of C. I. Scofieldintendent of Congregational Home Missions forthe Southwest, who had been watching Scofield'swork, came to him and told him of a littlechurch that had been organized in Dallas, Texas,and that was going to pieces because it had nominister. Would Scofield give up the practiceof law, and go to Texas and take charge of thatchurch?

This was a new proposition indeed! Mr. Scofield prayed about it, and he kept on praying.Some months went by. The Home MissionsSuperintendent came again and urgently renewed his invitation: the church, he said, waslosing the few members it had because of thelack of any pastoral head.

"Yes, I'll go," remarked Scofield emphatically;and as soon as he could arrange his affairs properly he gave up his St. Louis law practice andwent straight down to the Dallas church.

IVDARING TO BE A PASTORwas a midsummer day in 1882, and fearI Tfully hot, when C. I. Scofield reached a little

Southwestern town on the bank of a muddyriver. I t was Dallas, Texas, now the largestcity in the State, to which he had gone in obedience to what he believed to be God's call,given him in St. Louis by the CongregationalHome Missions Superintendent.

He reached Dallas on a Saturday; and Sunday morning he went to the church buildingwhere he was to preach. The people had beennotified that he was coming, and a Deacon Pagewas on hand to meet him at the door. It isnot strange that you will see a photograph ofDeacon, later Elder, Page framed and on thewall of Dr. Scofield's study to-day.

Counting Deacon Page, there were at the timejust twelve members of the First Congregational Church of Dallas; the other eleven werewomen. Some of the husbands of the womencame to some church services, bu t they were

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4 The Life Story of C. I. Scofieldnot communicant members. I t was not longbefore practically all of those who came wereconverted.

The new pastor's first sermon, preached thatSunday morning, was from the text: "Therighteous shall flourish like the palm-tree; heshall grow like a cedar in Lebanon" (Psalm92: 12). He had made a special study of endogenous trees, as a boy, and he took occasion totell something about the habits and facts ofpalm-tree life as illuminating the text. (Endogenous plants, like the palm, are the "insidegrowers," so called: those that grow from withinrather than by the addition of layers from without. The believer, with Christ within as hislife, grows and flourishes like the palm-tree.)

At the evening service, the same Sunday, hepreached from John 3:16: "For God so lovedthe world, that he gave his only begotten Son,tha t whosoever believeth in him should notperish, bu t have everlasting life." He hadspecially asked the Lord to save some one thatnight; and the answer to his prayer was twoconverSiOns.

Mr. Scofield's Christian service in Y. M. C. A.and other meetings had given him some experience in winning souls to Christ in public meet-

Daring to be a Pastor 43ings. I t was his custom to ask, at the close ofan evangelistic message, that an y present whowished to signify their personal acceptance ofJesus as Saviour would either arise or hold upa hand. Then, at the close of the meeting,he would state that he would be glad to meetall such; he wanted to know them personally;he was sure he had not made everything clear;it was important that they should talk thingsover together-and the instant the meetingwas closed he would be down among the peopleseeking out those who had given any publicexpression of their faith, would have them bythe hand, and thus, as the other people passedout, he would be in the midst of what provedto be a little after-meeting with the new seekersor converts. This plan was one that God, blessed, and it was used in the church at Dallas.

i \1 The young preacher was ordained to theGospel ministry in the Dallas church by a largeand representative Council of Congregationalministers and churches. The Council, by acommittee of its foremost members, took up, atthe insistence of the candidate, the whole question of his past life. He had given bu t eigh1., teen months to special study for his ordination.Yet those eighteen months of study were so



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44 The Life Story of C. I. Scofieldtireless, thorough, and searching, based as theywere upon his lifelong habits of study in liter-ature and the law, that very few ministers comeup for ordination after studies so unsparing.During this intensive preparation he had studiedwith profound earnestness and care three stand-ard treatises on systematic theology; had readchurch history, pastoral theology, and homi-letics. Together with all this he had had theextraordinary opportunity of Bible study of anunusual sort under the personal teaching of Dr.James H. Brookes. When he was examined forhis ordination, he asked not to be favored inthe examination,-and he was not. But he wasordained with enthusiastic approval.

Ye t in spite of the encouraging beginning inthe new church that first Sunday, things wentvery slowly. There was a bitter prejudice in theSouth against Congregational churches and min-isters. Most Southern people knew the Con-gregational denomination only as the churchof Henry Ward Beecher, the great "Aboli-tionist," and therefore as a "Yankee church."Little by little the people of Dallas, however,came to learn that the new pastor of the Yankee church was a Confederate soldier. Thatgave him some social standing, bu t the people

Th e First Congregational Church in Dallas, Texas. of whichDr. Scofield was pastor



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,~ . Daring to be a Pastor 45J',/ who received him socially would not come near

his church, even though they gladly entertainedhim in their own homes. "Why should he bea Yankee preacher instead of a Presbyterian?"they kept asking.

Well, if the people wouldn't come to hearhim, he would go after the people. He capitalized his experience with the St. Louis railroad men, and began persistent visiting in thehomes of the folks in Dallas whom he wantedto win. One day, in his church service, he askedif any present would like to have a cottageprayer-meeting in their own home. A twelveyear-old boy raised his hand.

"Well, what is it?" asked the pastor."I think mammy'd like to have yu come,"

said the boy."I'll be there," said the pastor.At the close of the service he spoke to the

boy, and-then or later-he discovered that theboy's father kept one of the lowest barrooms inDallas. Nothing daunted, Pastor Scofield wentto the three-room house on the appointed night.The boy had hustled around and gatheredneighbors together in force, probably largelyfrom curiosity. The front room of the littlehouse was packed with people when this un



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46 The Life Story of C. I. Scofieldusual" cottage prayer-meeting" began. And themother and sister of that saloon-keeper's homecame to Christ that night. Later the fatherwas saved. That mother is still living; she ledprobably seventy-five souls to Christ after herconverSIOn.

"Yankee" pastor Scofield made it his customto hold two such cottage prayer-meetings everyweek. And people were converted all the time.Such conversions, made in the presence of theirneighbors, were genuine. There was no mere"joining the church" formality, as so manypeople join the church to-day-like a socialclub. These people took Jesus Christ as theirpersonal Saviour; they knew their neighborswould be watching them to see whether it wasgoing to mean anything in changed lives; theytrusted Christ to bring even that miracle topass; and He was faithful to their trust, asalways.

Of course the new converts wanted to connect themselves with Mr. Scofield's church;and they did so. When a new Home MissionsSuperintendent came to Dallas after six weeks,there were nine to be received into the church,and he was delighted. But he cautioned thenew pastor to be careful not to let his church

Daring to be a Pastor 47become too much of a hoi polloi affair, a "beggars' club." That would never do, he said.As a matter of fact, these humble people whowere coming to Christ and joining the FirstCongregational Church were by no meansbeggars; they were honest working people.And Mr. Scofield, as he watched the Lordworking and trusted the matter wholly toHim, could not help hoping, down in his heart,that the Lord himself, if on earth, would haveloved to "join" that church. He would havefelt at home there, for so many people thereloved Him and had already welcomed Him..So the p a ~ t o r kept right on taking in as members all who wanted to come, on the basisof personal faith in Jesus Christ as Saviour.Their lives were being revolutionized; andsome of them were becoming really prosperousin business and strong citizens.

Two years of this sort of pastoral evangelism had brought the church from a membership of about fourteen to two hundred, and thebuilding was being filled. A young woman ofa Michigan family that had moved to Dallaswas attending the church, a Miss Hetty Hallvan Wart; and about six months after thepastor first met Miss van Wart she became Mrs.

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48 The Life Story of C. 1. ScofieldScofield. This was in 1884; and as he and shelook back to-day over the thirty-six yearssince those early beginnings in the Dallaschurch they praise God together for his goodnes'S in having brought them into each other'slives.

The work of the First Congregational Churchwent on growing, under God, until a new brickbuilding had to be erected, holding some twelvehundred people; and then two mission churcheswere planted by the mother church. A largelot adjoining the home church, on a corner, wassecured, a big tent was pitched on this for hotsummer days, and large evangelistic tent meetings were held, as the blessing of God continuedunabated.

Under the preaching of Dr. James H. Brookes,of St. Louis, a boy named W. Irving Carroll hadbeen converted, and had united with Dr.Brookes' church. Not long after that, as heputs it to-day, he "became sadly backsliddenand lived a very worldly life for a number ofyears." Then through the grace of God he wasrestored to the fellowship of the Lord JesusChrist, and about this time moved to Dallas.Here he came under the training and Bibleteaching of Dr. Scofield, went the whole way

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49aring to be a Pastorwith the Lord, and entered the Christian ministry. Then he was made pastor of one of thebranches of the home church, the Grand AvenueCongregational Church of Dallas. When PastorScofield finally left Dallas, Mr. Carroll was madepastor of the home church itself. And now heis serving as pastor of the famous Washingtonand Compton Avenues Presbyterian Church ofSt. Louis, of which Dr. James H. Brookes foryears was pastor, and later Dr. Harris H. Gregg.

An illuminating comment on the ministry ofthe new pastor at Dallas was made in a letterwritten in 1916 by Mr. W. A. Nason, of Dallas, amember of the church at that time, to Dr. JamesM. Gray, of the Moody Bible Institute. Mr.Nason wrote:

"When Dr. Scofield came to the church, itwas a congregation of confessors and professors;unconverted persons were teaching in the Sunday-school; persons not Christians were employed to sing in the choir. Money was raisedin various ways, even to running a dining-hallat the State fair, as other churches of the citywere doing. After a while all of this waschanged, without direct reference to the inconsistency of the course pursued. In the matterof getting money, some talks were given on the



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50 The Life Story of C. 1. Scofieldmethod of raising money among God's children,taking nothing of the Gentiles. Soon it dawnedupon us that as God's children we ought toraise the necessary money from Christians tocarry on God's work. I t was not long before webecame self-supporting, and no longer looked tothe Home Missionary Society for aid.

"Our members increasing to such an extentthat we had to build a new church building, thefirst ac t of the finance committee was to pass aresolution to the effect that, as this was to beGod's house, we would solicit no funds from anunbeliever, bu t build with money furnished byGod's children. We bought the land and erectedthe building on this basis, and, so far as I know,no money came from an unconverted person.

"The music question was simply settled, notby telling us that it was not right to have unconverted persons singing praises for us to theglory of God, whom they rejected, bu t by arousing within our hearts the desire to worship Godin a way pleasing to Him."Our pastor never assumed to be any man'sconscience, and, if asked regarding any courseof conduct, he would refer to some passage ofScripture and tell the person inquiring to prayClor gUldance."

,I'

Daring to be a Pa8tor 51Th e membership of the Dallas church, when

finally Pastor Scofield felt led to leave it inorder to accept the call to become pastor ofMoody's church at Northfield, had risen fromits original fourteen members to 551, and 814members in all had been received. A significant statement occurs in the letter of dismission given to their pastor by the Dallas church:"W e commend him to you as one who delights tohide behind the uplifted cross of Jesus; one whowill preach a full and free salvation through theshed blood of God's Lamb; one who will leadyou into the deep things of the Word, and onewho teaches and who preaches the whole truthof God."

Back in St. Louis, immediately after his conversion, Mr. Scofield had first heard and metD. L. Moody. Mr. Moody was at that timeholding one of his great evangelistic campaignsin St. Louis; it lasted for five months, andMr. Scofield had gladly entered into it and hadbecome an active worker in its soul-winningopportunities. The acquaintance thus begunwith the great evangelist continued until thelatter's death. After becoming pastor of thechurch in Dallas, Mr. Scofield coveted for his



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,5fl The Life Story of C. 1. Scofield 1\i1people the blessing of Mr. Moody's testimony

and preaching, and twice, at his invitation,Mr. Moody held series of special meetings in ,allas. The latter's characteristic discernmentshowed him that Dr. Scofield was a man whomthe North and East needed, and, while he wasye t an unknown man in the Christian ministry,Mr. Moody invited him to the great NorthfieldConference as a speaker. That was his firstintroduction to the wider fields of acquaintanceand service in the Lord's vineyard.

"Moody," says Dr. Scofield to-day, "was oneof the greatest men of his generation. I havesometimes thought that Dwight 1. Moody andGeneral Grant were, in any true definition ofgreatness, the greatest men I have ever met.Moody had the strength of his Yankee birthand ancestry ; he was a man also of great kindness of heart, with a zeal for souls, and absolutelyloyal to the Word of God." I

Among the mighty formative influences ofPastor Scofield's life during these years was thefar-famed Niagara Bible Conference, held annually at Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. Unde rDrs. W. J. Erdman, James H. Brookes, Na-thaniel West, H. M. Parsons, and others theBible was taught with the highest scholarly and

DWIGHT 1. MOODYForemost Evangelist of his d a y - Founder of three great schools



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53aring to be a Pastorspiritual power. Dr. Scofield was welcomed intothis fellowship and became a favorite teacher.

Invita tions to do Bible teaching and preachingat conferences and conventions were coming in-creasingly to Mr. Scofield while he was at Dallas;and finally, in 1895, it became clear to him thatGod wanted him to accept the urgent call fromMr. Moody to become pastor of the Congrega-tional Church at East Northfield, Massachusetts,Mr. Moody's own church, and the church homeof the students at the great Northfield andMount Hermon Schools, as well as of the farmers'families permanently living there. When heaccepted this pastorate he was also made presi-dent of the Northfield Bible Training School.The work gave him an opportunity of preachingto a thousand students every Sunday in addi-tion to his other pastoral opportunities.

For seven years Dr. Scofield ministered atNorthfield, quring which time Mr. Moody'sdea th occurred. Mr. Carroll, in Dallas, nowfelt led to give up the pastorate of the FirstChurch there in order to become pastor of theFirst Presbyterian Church of Texarkana, Texas;and Dr. Scofield was urged to return to his oldcharge. He consented to do this, returning toDallas in 1902.



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54 The Life Story of C. I. ScofieldI t is interesting to read the following in the

action of the ecclesiastical council at Northfield,accepting his resignation:

"The council discern issues of unusual weightin this case. This church gathers and dispersesreligious forces felt throughout the Union. Eachyear from all over the country Chr istian strangersand many from other lands make it a shrine:in part from hallowed associations ahd more forthe pursuit of the higher religious life. The pas-tor here is, in a measure, a host to Christian pil-grims from half the world. Hence ' a change ofthe pastorate touches wide circles in the Gospelkingdom. The pastorate now closing has in itsseven years gathered into the church 196 byconfession and 112 by letter, a total of 308; andhas spent large activities in the yearly convoca-tions held here. It has been marked by strong,skilful, and productive preaching to the dwellershere, to the members of the favored schoolshere, and to the strangers visiting the town.These have found memorable profit from thispure, fervid, and enriching ministry.

"And while the council can bu t sympathizewith the church for the frequent absences of thepastor to meet the calls which his eminentevangelistic power created, they also rejoice in

Daring to be a Pastor 55the blessed gifts which have so profited otherchurches. We trust the Head of the Churchwill recompense this Zion by future pastoralfaithfulness for the sacrifices thus made forother peoples.

" I t is the happiness of the council to recordtheir enjoyment of the personal relations be-tween themselves and Rev. Dr. Scofield. Hisurbanity, fraternal fulness of heart, and enkin-dling spiritual fervors have made him a brotherbeloved by us; and while deploring our loss ofthese gifts, they give emphasis to our commen-da tion of him to the churches and ministers ofChrist to whom he goes."



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57

VREALLY STUDYING THE BIBLE

I MMEDIATELY after his conversion, in September of 1879, Mr. Scofield had, as has already been pointed out, begun to study the Bible-o r he had begun to try to do so. He had speedily realized that he knew almost nothing of theBible. The saving feature of his ignorance ofthe Word was that he knew that he was ignorant.He inevitably compared his own ignorance andtha t of most people concerning the Bible withhis own thoroughgoing mastery of other thingsthat he had taken up. Naturally a man of thatsort could not be content to be a real Christian and have his Bible knowledge of a tenthrate or even second-rate sort. He must masterthis as he had been mastering literature, his jtory, and law.

He made various attempts to study the Biblein spots. But he soon discovered that he couldnot understand the New Testament until he hadstudied the Old. Indeed, looking back to-dayover his lifetime experience in Bible study, he

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Really Studying the Biblesays emphatically that there are not two bestways of studying anything, and there is onlyone best way to study the Bible: the way it isrecorded. The way in which the Holy Spirit decided to record the facts that are brought together in the Bible was, first, by assembling in;/'historical order the books of the Old Testament.

The first verse of the New Testament gave theyoung convert the clue to proper Bible study.He read there: "The book of the generation-ofJesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham." Now, his old-time habit of investigation,dating back to boyhood days, asserted itself.The son of David-who was he? The son ofAbraham-who was he? For that is evidentlywhere the Bible, or the Holy Spirit, begins inrecording the life and ministry of the Lord JesusChrist. Oh, yes, Dr. Scofield knew" something"about Abraham, and he knew "something"about David, as will anyone who has beenbrought up in a Christian family. "That is apart of the 'general knowledge of mankind,' aswe lawyers say," said Dr. Scofield in telling ofthose early Bible-study experiences. This" general knowledge," that is, is such that in thecourts you do not have to prove it. But, whilethe names of David and Abraham were not



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The Life Story of C. I. Scofield8meaningless to him, he did no t know much aboutthem, and he knew that he did not.

When as a boy, stretched out on the floorbefore the open fire, he became so absorbinglyinterested in Shakespeare, and biography, andhistory that, whenever he came across an unknown name, he was driven to read every otherbook he could lay his hands on to find out moreabout that unknown name, and then went on tomake a boyish but none the less earnest and serious map of universal history, he did no t realizethat God was preparing him for work in Biblestudy that was to put the whole Christian worldunder heavy debt to him as an ambassador ofChrist.

This first verse of the first book of the NewTestament drove Scofield back to an exhaustive study of David and Abraham. But as hebegan to dig into what the Bible had to tellabout those two characters, he found that, inBible study, as in everything else, he could notisolate anyth ing; there was nothing to do butto go back and study the whole of the OldTestament. (What the more confirmed him inthis was the example of Christ, as given in Luke24: 27, 44)And he did. He did not give up studying the

Really Studying the Bible 59New Testament in the meantime,-his soulwinning work compelled its use; bu t he did notpatch up merely bits here and there and call itBible study, as so many of us do. He wentlaboriously, thoroughly, painstakingly, tediouslyon with his work of finding out what God reallyhad to say in His Word. "My method of work,you see," says Dr. Scofield in an apologetic way,"is not what would be called rapid; it cannotbe made rapid." Come to think of it, just whatworkers in this world who have pu t their generations under heavy debt for their life-work,whether in the field of science, or invention, orliterature, or art, have been rapid workers! Thevery idea of rapidity seems to exclude permanent, time-defying results. God is not in ahurry; why should we be?

No t only the first verse of the first chapterof the Gospel of Matthew turned Scofield backto the Old Testament; bu t such words, spokenof John the Baptist, as "This is he that wasspoken of by the prophet Esaias" (Matthew3: 3) also sent him back to the Old Testamentfor fur ther information. So he must bone downto a personal study of the original sources, andtake, no t men's opinions, bu t God's Word.

Not only did his ingrained habits of study



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60 The Life Story of C. I. Scofieldforce him to treat the Bible in this way, bu t hefelt also that it was only reverent to study theBible thoroughly. He felt that God's Word deserved it. He felt that there was no excuse fornot studying the Bible in the most thorough waypossible. It is not a big book; he had given farmore time already to the study of other booksinfinitely less worth while, valuable though theyhad been. Does it not seem strange that theseself-evident facts, known in theory to all of us,have not driven more of us to the sort of Biblestudy which the young converted lawyer felthe must have?

While the beginnings of this new and lifechanging study began immediately after hisconversion, while he was in St. Louis and stillpractising law, and while his trusted friend andBible teacher, Dr. Brookes, guided him and advised his use of certain helpful books, it wasnot until he gave himself up wholly to Christian work through accepting the pastorate. ofthe church in Dallas that he really got well intohis lifetime Bible study. There he began togive his people the results as he dug things outfor himself. He preached these results in thepulpit; and he held a regular week-day eveningBible class in his church.

From Dr. Scofield'. Personal BibleIt I. intcrestinl to tu n throuR"h the f l y ~ t e a v e 8 of a personal copy of the Bible that Of'_ Scofield has used much, aod to read some orhis notes, and outlines of addresses. and bits ofBi&lestudy, and choice Quotations. The followina: are selections from these fly-leaf markinlls.1. Repentan.ce .. Regeneration2. Faith .s. 'Adoption3. Justification 6. Sancti6catiou7. Glory

W siting on the Lol'dI: P,alm 6.: : I "silent"~ Psalm '04; Z1 "depe'nd upon - wait expectantly"3. 2 ehron. 7 : J8, 19 {T o wait as a. servantProy. 8 : J4 or soldier

To wait upon God is to be silent t.hat hemay speak; expecting all things from him;an d girt for instant unquestioni.ng obedience10 the slightest movement of hl l will.lI)ust, z. Sam. Z3 : 13-171. They were separated unto David~ They were nearJ. They were silent4. David' j sigh was their command

"One may ha ve an intelligent opimonabout divine things, and bc a worthy man;but the ta.te of divine things, the reaJizinl'..nl e of what they are, belongs only tothose in whom the Spirit lives \l.ngrieved."-Jonathan Edwards.There are some who deSire to know withthe sale purpose that they may know, andit is base curiosity; and some who desireto know that they may be known, and itis base ambitIOn; and some who desire tolknow that they may sell their knowledgefOT . ealth and honor, and it is base avarice;but there are some, also, who desire toknow that they may he edified, and il ispr.udence; and some who desire to knowthat they may help others, and i i3 cbar

j ty,-Bernard. __Rom. 4. The B l e ~ , e d Man

"All'l.Leave all Luke s: lJ,Believe all Luke .24: 2SObey all Matt. : 20; Acts 50: 29.Receive all 1 Cor. 3 : 22, John 20 : 2Z,Matt . .s :


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....

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Really Studying the Bible 61This week-day evening Bible class was not the

mid-week prayer-meeting. That he believedshould be kept for prayer and testimony; andunder his pastorate and guidance his people soonhad great liberty in this. In giving their testimonies as to how God had blessed them PastorScofield would insist upon their giving a Scripture with every testimony, and they had greatblessings from this use of the Scripture.

The Bible-study evenings were open to allwho cared to come, and soon people were attending from other churches, and ministers also werecoming. Before long a Bible-study class in theY. M. C. A. was added to [the weekly work, andthe ministry was extended.

One of the results of the Bible-class work inthe Dallas church was the little book, for manyyears now of world-wide circulation, "RightlyDividing the Word of Truth." Experience withmany students had shown the pastor and Bibleteacher that a knowledge of certain truths wasessential to any real comprehension of the Biblemessage. These "beginning truths," as theyhave been called, were put together by him during his vacation in 1888. The work of makingthe little book was a time-consuming and laborious task for him then, and" spoiled" his vacation

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632 The Life Stary of C. I. Scofieldentirely one summer at Niagara. But what ablessing it has been to multitudes of others!

Brethren in the Dallas church furnishedmoney for composition and plates for a firstedition of the book, and shortly after this thewell-known New York publishers of soundBible literature, Loizeaux Brothers, purchasedthe plates and publishing rights, and have continued the publication of the book until thisday. They have brought ou t some thirty-sevendifferent editions, and other editions have beenissued by other publishers. Doubtless hundredsof thousands of copies of the book have thusgone into circulation, and its mission of blessingstill continues.

Among the more important of the by-products of the Dallas work must be mentionedthe formation and training of a class of youngmen obviously having pastoral and evangelisticgifts. While many participated in the instruction in part, ten such students continued throughthe course and, having made full proof of theirspiritual gifts in many searching experiences, received ordina tion. I t is gratifying to record thatthe seal of the Divine blessing has been wonderful upon the varied ministry of these men.

For fifteen years Mr. Scofield went patiently,

Really Studying the Biblestudiously, comprehensively on in his thoroughgoing Bible study, mastering what he set out todo, as he hunted down through the pages ofthe Word of God the precious facts and truthsthat he was after, and that the Holy Spiritopened up and illuminated to him. Using theresults of his work as he did for his constantteaching and preaching, he was keeping themalso carefully written out in full notes, preserving them systematically. These studies werelater, and little by little, embodied in whatfinally became the Scofield Bible CorrespondenceCourse. This Course had begun by the issuingof pamphlets, covering portions of the Word,until the time came when it was possible tobring such pamphlets together in the threeBible Correspondence Course volumes whichhave been used by such great numbers, andwhich are to-day a permanent and rich contribution to the Bible study of the English-speaking Christian world, as ministered by the MoodyBible Institute.I t was when Dr. Scofield accepted Mr.Moody's invitation to become pastor of theCongregational church at Northfield (1895-1902) that the Correspondence Course was completed. Even then it was gone over again, and



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654 The Life Story of C. I. Scofieldrevised, references were verified, and the wholewas made more thorough and complete.

Into it had gone fifteen years of unremittingstudy of the Bible. And by "study" is notmeant the reading of a number of books of anexpository and exegetical nature, together withcritical works. That also was done; bu t thefoundation of it all was study of the Word itself.Oh, those days and nights of toil! And everthe rubbish heap grew-a stack for the sake oftracing ou t a single line sometimes-nay, some-times a single word. People to whom the Sco-field Correspondence Course or the ReferenceBible notes may seem very simple and easy donot realize that a vast amount of investigationand research went into deciding what not to pu tinto annotations. Th e attainment of truth, theinterrelation of truth, the finding-few can knowat what cost of toil-the simplest, clearest wordfor the expression of truth: all this was part ofthe costliness of the study. And all this as apreparation, though the toiler knew it not, forthe making, years later, of the Reference Bible.

About ten thousand different students, frompractically every country on earth and theislands of the sea, studied the CorrespondenceCourse while Dr. Scofield was personally in

Really Studying the Biblecharge of it. This great number representedalmost every walk in life. Many ministers wroteto Dr. Scofield that the Correspondence Coursehad transformed their ministry. One such min-ister said that he had studied Hebrew and Greekin his seminary in order to be able to study theBible in the original. But, like so many others,having thus learned the Hebrew and the Greek,his Bible study stopped right there-rather, itnever began. For he never studied the Bibleuntil he came into touch with the Scofield Cor-respondence Course: and then for the first timehe learned by experience what real study ofGod's Word was.

Dr. Scofield kept up the personal directionof the Correspondence School work from 1890to 1915. I t having then become necessary forhim to commit this laborious work to otherhands, the Correspondence Department of theMoody Bible Institute made arrangements withhim to take it over; and any lover of the Bible, orone who wants to become an intelligent lover andstudent of the Bible, can now have access to theresults of those years of painstaking study by taking the course through the Moody Bible Institute.*

Information concerning this Course may be had by addressing theMoody Bible Institute, 153 Institute Place, Chicago.



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VIVICTORY AND MISSIONS

ALTHOUGH God had greatly blessed theI1.. Dallas pastor in his own life, and wasblessing his studies in the Word to himself andto others, he had not yet entered into the NewTestament teaching of the life of power andvictory. There were times when he was anxious;he knew this was unnecessary and wrong, andhe longed to step ou t fully into the normalNew Testament Christian experience. I t wasin harmony with his method of patient thoroughness in all his studies that he finally apprehended the truth as related to the new lifein Christ Jesus.

The Southwest, in the years of Scofield'sfirstministry in Dallas, seethed with so-called holiness testimony. Probably no phase of the various teachings on the holy life was unrepresented.To all of it in those beginning-days of his Christian life and service he lent an eager ear-eagerbecause of an intense desire to realize in his ownexperience the highest Christian life. But of

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Victory and Missionsnecessity he must bring those methods, to theresults of which he was hearing rapturous testimonies, to the test of Scripture. Again andagain he was compelled to turn from the theorieswhich he was hearing. Not so spoke the Word.

The light broke in through a study of thethreefold experience of the Apostle Paul. Beginning as a self-satisfied, self-righteous legalist,Paul met Jesus on the Damascus road and became a justified man; bu t still a man under thedefeats recorded in the seventh of Romans.Passing then into the marvellous victories of theeighth,of Romans, it was plain that Paul ascribedthese victories (Romans 8: 2) to the new life inChrist Jesus as energized and made effectualthrough the indwelling Holy Spirit. The eagerseeker found that great triumph chapter athrillwith the Spirit. Passing over the parentheticninth, tenth, and eleventh chapters to the twelfth- the true continuation of the eighth-he foundthe disclosure of the step into victory-and notvictory over the Adamic self merely, bu t intothe whole life of fruitful service and fulness ofjoy. The new act of faith demanded the presentation (or yielding) of the body, demandednot only the cessation of conscious resistanceto Christ, bu t also the acceptance of the Christ



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fiR The Life Story of C. I. Scofieldlife plan as one of sacrifice. A life no longer toserve self, bu t Christ. Th e thing demandedwas an act as definite as the act of faith in whichthe new life began.

When this was perceived, the answer in Scofield's soul was obedience. From that momenta new experience of fruitful service and of innerblessing began.

And now, when he had entered into the wholeblessing, he found to his delight that he hadlong before been getting blessed glimpses of thisNew Testament truth through his study of theOld Testament types. He saw that the JehovahJesus foretold and foreshadowed throughout theentire Law and the Prophets had provided forhim not only salvation from the penalty of sin,bu t also salvation from its power and all-sufficiency for peace and joy and the ninefold fruitof the Spirit (Galatians 5 : 22, 23).

At the Niagara Bible Conference Pastor Sco;'field met, for several successive years, HudsonTaylor, the founder and director of the ChinaInland Mission. Through Mr. Taylor he beganto have an interest in foreign missions. Thisset him to studying the Bible to get God's directword on that subject. He saw that the ChinaInland Mission was wonderfully apostolic in its

Victory and Missions 69spirit, plan, and purposes, and he had the rareprivilege of many talks with Mr. Taylor.

About this time he came across a book by thebrilliant journalist - traveler, William EleroyCurtis, who had been sent by the United StatesGovernment, before the opening of the World'sFair in Chicago in 1893, to South and CentralAmerica in order to stir up an interest therein the coming exposition. Scofield read withdeepest interest what Mr. Curtis had to sayabout the great lands to our south. He hadan opportunity of hearing Mr. Curtis speak, andhe was impressed when the speaker told of the

.religious destitution of Central America, containing nearly three million souls, ye t with onlydissolute priests making a mockery of ministering to them spiritually. The only Protestantmissionary in Central America apparently wasat Guatemala, while the Moravian brethren hada mission on the coast.Now Scofield made a careful study of theBible plan of evangelizing the world-which hestill believes to be the only true plan. He foundthere that the early Christians, acting under thedirect instruction of our Lord Jesus Himself,began their evangelizing in Jerusalem, went oninto all Judea, then to Samaria, and then on

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710 The Life Story of C. I. Scofieldprogressively "unto the uttermost part of theearth" (Acts 1: 8). Evidently it was God's purpose that Christians should evangelize as theygo, not overleaping great sections of the earthin telling mankind the good news of Jesus.So, "beginning at Dallas," the question arose:What is the nearest unevangelized section tome? The answer seemed to be Mexico. Butupon investigation Scofield found that therewere seven strong denominations working inMexico. That could not be said to be whollyneglected. Pushing on still farther, what wasthe next possible section? Central America.He believed that the Lord had called his attention to Central America through the writing andspeaking of Curtis. But before entering uponan y missionary enterprise there, Scofield wroteto different denominational mission boards andasked whether they would be willing to undertake the evangelizing of Central America.Wi thou t exception these boards answered thatthey were already staggering under heavy burdens in their missionary work and obligations,and could not conscientiously enter a new field.I t was only then that he felt clear that Godwas calling him to this unoccupied region.c Th e mission-aroused pastor now called to-

Victory and Missionsgether for special prayer three of the consecratedmen of his church, men who knew how to pray,and who had given their lives utterly to theLord-E. M. Powell, Luther Rees, and W. A.Nason. The little group of pastor and laymenearnestly asked the Lord to use them to evangelize Central America.

After they had prayedabout the rnatter,the subj ectwasbrought before the entirechurch, and thereit was taken up with prayers and literally withtears: Missionary volunteers began to offer forthe field. And from that time the Dallas churchbegan to spend more money on missions than onhome expenses, and has kept this up ever since.

Th a t was the beginning of the now wellestablished and greatly blessed Central American Mission. It was formed at the home of thepastor, in Dallas, on November 14, 1890. Dr.Scofield was made secretary, Mr. Powell thetreasurer, and Mr. Rees the chairman, of theCouncil. In 1893 the Hon. D. H. Scott, ofParis, Texas, was added to the Council, and in1894 he became Treasurer of the Mission, continuing in that office ever since. From the startit has been a fai

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