"Winning isn't everything; it's the only thing."
The Life of Henry Drummond
Return to the book list for this category.
The Life of Henry Drummond, George Adam Smith, Hodder, 1902
Born in 1851 in Stirling, Henry Drummond was a Professor of Theology at the Free Church College in Glasgow where he also taught Natural Science. He was also a life-time evangelist. His book Natural Law in the Spiritual World sold over 70,000 copies and made him famous. A booklet on love based on 1 Corinthians 13, The greatest thing in the world sold a staggering 12 million copies and may still be in print today. He also wrote a booklet Baxter's second innings an allegorical discipleship guide, written in the language of cricket.
He was a friend and major influence on Sir William Smith who founded the Boys' Brigade in 1883. Pages 458-61 document the development of the BB with its programme of Bible class, drill and sport. Drummond said of it: "It is clear, for instance, that, in dealing with Boys, supreme importance must be attached to maintaining a right attitude towards athletics. And here the Brigade has taken the bull by the horns, and formed a special department to deal with amusements - a department whose express object is to guide and elevate sport, and by unobtrusive methods, to get even recreation to pay its toll to the disciplining of character". (Page 458).
When DL Moody undertook an evangelistic campaign in Edinburgh, Drummond supported him fully and on occasions the two spoke together at the same meeting. They developed a close friendship. Drummond is credited with helping Moody to see the value of sport in evangelism and discipleship in America by showing Moody how using athletes, heroes in the eyes of students, to lead Christian meetings had been successful in Scotland. On hearing of Drummond's death, Moody said "He was the most Christlike man I ever met."
Drummond saw sport as the key to reaching boys with the gospel: "The key to a boy's life in the present generation lies in athletics. Sport commands his whole leisure, and governs his thoughts and ambitions even in working hours. And so striking has been this development in recent years and especially among the young men of the larger downs that the time has come to decide whether athletics are to become a curse to the country or a blessing".(Page 459). He added: "One difficulty is to get into their heads that they are to be religious as boys, and that they need not be so 'pious' as their maiden aunts". (Page 319)