774 THE KING’S BUSINESS all the fronts, told the writer that in one. army twenty-five per cent, of the soldiers were hors du combpt from this cause. He said further, that conditions were permitted to be so bad in London that soldiers coming to that city on furlough were permitted to be solicted by these vampires near the stations where they were getting off the trains, and that things had come to such a pass that daughters of the best families were out on the streets at all hours of the night with their automobiles, to pick up the soldiers and take them to a place of safety before they fell a prey to these creatures, who were permitted to lie in wait for them. Does not the Government owe a duty to these young men, and to their mothers to protect them ? It is all very well to say this is the work of the Y. M. C. A. The Y. M. C. A. will doubtless do its part well, as it did in the Spanish-American war, but there are limitations to what the Y. M. C. A. can do, and the Government has no right to try to shift its own responsibility off on to the Y. M. C. A. There is much that the Government can do, if it wants to. Does it? It is related that a faithful Canadian commander who attempted to clean up his camp' was forbidden to do so by his superior English officer. I was told in Canada that Canadian mothers were saying that they were willing to give their sons for the Empire, but they were not willing to give them to be debauched by strong drink and impurity. One person said to me that unless something was done to improve conditions there was likely to be an uprising or revolution in Canada. An American mother, an unusually well-informed woman, a brilliant and gifted woman, whose son was going to the front as an officer, was in dismay at the conditions that she had learned would confront her son (not the conditions of physical hardship and peril, but the moral conditions) and came to me to ask what could be done. What is the Government going to do, and how soon is it going to do it ? need to be reminded of what meanings the Scriptures attach to the word, in order that we may intelligently and sincerely call Him whom we love “Master and Lord.” In the first place the word “Master” is used in the sense of “Teacher,” and so designates that Christ is to be supreme in the realm of intellect. He is “dedaskalos” (teacher), Rabbi (my teacher), Rabbonì (my very dear teacher). These grades of acceptance of Christ in the realm of our intellect and sphere of our thinking are found among His disciples. To some He is “teacher;” to others, “my teacher;” to still others, “my very dear teacher.” Which is He to you? Does He absolutely control your thought life? In the second place “Master” is used in connection with service, suggest ing that the One whom we thus designate has the right to command, to over see, to superintend all our activities. This word (epestata, Luke 5:5) is used only in connection with discipleship, and clearly indicates that if Christ is in the heart He has the right to, and will control tbe life. Does Christ as Master really control our service ? The third use of the word “Master” affects the heart and life—the feel ings, affections, emotions, in other words the throne-room of the life. Peter (1 epistle 3:15) used it in this sense : “Sanctify in your hearts Christ as Lord.” How lightly we use the word “Master,” as applying to our Lord, nowadays. ' ■How ignorantly of all that the word contains do we take it upon our lips. We “Master.”
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker