From a recent number of the Western Recorder I clip the following paragraph:

      Prof. Carl Budde, of Strasburg, Germany, has been lecturing at the University of Chicago on "The Religion of Israel." According to the newspaper accounts, he denied most that Christian people have believed about the Old Testament. We would respectfully suggest, for the sake of variety, that some orthodox man be invited to deliver some lectures at the University of Chicago.

      The Standard [Chicago] found no fault with Professor Budde's lectures--we have never known of its objecting to anything that was said or done in the University of Chicago. But the Standard and other papers spoke of the sweet spirit of the German professor. With some people it is all right to [324] contradict "Moses and the prophets," provided only it is done in a sweet spirit.

      The suggestion of the Recorder is a good one, but it is not likely to be adopted. Chicago University is in favor of free speech, and this means free speech on only one side of critical questions. If a man speaks in favor of orthodox belief in the Bible, his is not free speech; it is the speech of bondage. And then, if a man with the old belief in the Bible were to be let loose in Chicago University, he might, in his natural indignation at the skepticism prevalent there, say some things which would not be "sweet-spirited." He might express the opinion that somebody is in danger of the wrath of God; and this, in Chicago University, would be an unpardonable sin. The style of Joab is the popular style now. When you are stabbing the truth under the fifth rib, you must do it with a smile and a kiss. This is orthodoxy according to the standard of the "critics."

[SEBC 324-325]