The profit of studying our pioneers
This historic Christian Standard article by J. Z. Tyler argues that studying Restoration Movement pioneers helps young people understand the present, discern the principles that shaped the movement, and prepare for present duties. It contrasts the religious conditions of the pioneers’ era with later changes and urges readers to recover the same heroic spirit for ongoing work. The piece highlights loyalty to Scripture, the authority of Christ, and the plea for Christian unity.
- Understanding the present depends on understanding the immediate past and the struggles that shaped our heritage.
- Studying pioneers helps us see the principles that guided them—especially Scripture’s sufficiency and Christ’s supreme authority.
- The same “heroic spirit” and commitment to restoration and unity are still needed today.
By J. Z. Tyler
In the late-19th and early-20th centuries, J. Z. Tyler served as the General Editor for the Bethany C. E. (Christian Endeavor) Reading Courses. This series of small books, described as “hand-books,” covered basic topics deemed beneficial for young people within the Restoration Movement. Within this series, J.W. McGarvey wrote the Hand-book for Bible Study, Archibald McLean wrote the Hand-book of Missions, and B. B. Tyler (J. Z. Tyler’s brother) wrote Concerning the Disciples. J. Z. Tyler’s 1899 article in the Christian Standard contends for the value of studying our past.
In our study of the plea and history of the disciples, in the Bethany C.E. Reading Courses, we are giving special attention to the principles in the heroic lives of our pioneers. Even the casual reader of our handbooks must be impressed with the contrast between the religious conditions now existing and those under which our fathers lived, and the question naturally arises what real benefit our young people may reasonably expect from studying the lives of those who lived under conditions so different from the present. The dominant thought in the days of the pioneers was intensely Calvinistic; but Calvinism is now decadent and almost dead. Philosophical creeds were then the supreme tests of soundness; now creeds exert but little power. Then existing divisions in the religious world were ardently defended; now the plea for union has become popular. Then the clergy lorded it over God’s heritage; now the distinction between clergy and laity has largely passed away. Then the Bible was popularly and superstitiously regarded as a sealed book, needing special illumination in order that men might understand it; now it is treated more rationally, and man’s ability to understand it, for life and salvation, is generally conceded. The changes in the religious world since the days of our pioneers are numerous and fundamental, and yet it is important that our young people be made familiar with the lives of these heroic men.
Why study our pioneers?
- The study of these lives will enable our young people to have a better understanding and a truer appreciation of the privileges of the present. In no department of life can the present be understood except in the light of the immediate past. Events are vitally joined. The Present is the child of the Past. Our pioneers had much to do in bringing about the changes between their days and ours, and the history of their struggles explains our heritage.
- It is important that we understand the lives of our pioneers in order that we may apprehend the principles which enabled them to work such beneficent changes. In the study of these men we are to look beneath the surface of events, and behind the incidents of their lives, and seek to understand the principles which inspired and guided them. It was these principles which made their lives worthy of record. They stood for something. They stood for the sufficiency of the Scriptures as a rule of faith and guide to life; they stood for the personal Christ instead of the philosophical creed; they stood for the progressive character of revelation and the completeness of the gospel; they stood for the gospel conditions of pardon; they stood for the supreme authority of Christ; they stood for a complete restoration of the gospel ordinances; they stood for the union of Christians, as in the beginning, and protested against divisions, no only as impolite, but as absolutely sinful; they stood for the unity of the faith and plead for liberty of opinion. These are some of the principles to be clearly discerned in the lives of these pioneers.
- An understanding of the lives and the principles of our pioneers is an excellent preparation for present duties. The same principles of loyalty to God and his Word, the same determination to bring everything to the test of the Scriptures, the same exaltation of Christ to supreme authority over the lives of men, the same plea for a complete return to the Christianity of Christ and his apostles are needed today. Our young people should understand that they are identified with the movement whose fundamental purposes and principles are radical and revolutionary. They need the touch of the heroic spirit which led our pioneers to such reckless indifference to personal ease and popular favor. We are in danger of settling down to our personal ease as if the heroic task undertaken by our pioneers had been completely accomplished. Much has been done; much more remains to be done. If our young people are to be the “worthy sons of noble sires” they must gird up their loins with the girdle of the same old truth and carry the campaign for Christ and his Church to yet larger conquests. They must recognize themselves as cooperating for the accomplishment of a glorious but yet unaccomplished enterprise. The nature of this enterprise and its need, the principles of this enterprise and their strength, the divine character of this enterprise and the heroic spirit it requires may all be learned from a thoughtful study of the lives of our pioneers.
J. Z. Tyler (1848-1926) was a preacher, editor, and writer among Restoration Movement churches. His article, “The Profit of Studying Our Pioneers,” was published in the Christian Standard on January 14, 1899.
