King's Business - 1933-06

215

July, 1933

T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S

rescue mission workers throughout the country— and these are in a position to know better than any one else— that prohibition was at least 85 per cent effective. He said that the anti-prohibition propaganda has been the greatest fraud ever perpetrated upon the American people. This false propaganda is enormously typical o f the false antinomian philosophy so prevalent in our day. Parents often assume an attitude o f superior wisdom and say in regard to the most vital questions o f faith and of practice, “ W e wish our children to choose for themselves.” This statement has been given to me as an excuse for failure to send children to Sunday-school, failure to keep chil­ dren safely off the streets, failure to conduct them safely through heavy traffic, failure to teach them the catechism or Scripture memory verses, failure to stand for law and order and moral decency in the community, failure to do what every Christian father and mother ought to do in leading the child to a saving knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. A dear mother in Israel recently spoke to a merchant in our city who is selling beer. “ I do not see how you can justify yourself in selling alcoholic liquor,” she said. “ What influence do you think it will have on your young son as he grows to years o f ma­ turity ?” The merchant is not a vicious, man, but he has been fool­ ishly deluded by popular philosophy and psychology. He spoke with an air of superior wisdom. “ I am doing exactly what I think is right. I want my boy to choose for himself.” I wish I had the skill o f a cartoonist. I should like to draw a picture o f a dangerous rocky cave beside the road filled with ferocious beasts and venomous reptiles. Down the road come a troop o f young people, little tots, youths and maidens, young men and young women entering into the responsibilities o f life. In the center o f the road, in the foreground of the picture, stand several individuals. One man is seeking to cry out a warning and to erect such safe­ guards as he may, but the others have him almost bound, and gagged, and helpless. They are tearing dowii his safe­ guards and seeking to beat him into unconsciousness, all the while shouting, “ Our young people must be free to choose for themselves.” Free! Yes, God knows they are free, but so are we older people free, and responsible for our freedom. Is any one actually afraid that there will not be enough tempta­ tions in this old world for the exercise o f moral judgments ? Those who seek to break down law and discipline in the home, in the school, or in the state are like the man who sees a poisonous snake about to spring at his friend and only turns aside with a careless shrug. To our Subscribers: Every subscriber whose subscription expiration date is prior to May, 1934— as shown on maga­ zine wrappers each month—will receive an addi­ tional month’s magazine in order to carry out our promise at the time of combining our April and May, 1933, numbers. This will not o f course apply to short term subscriptions beginning after June 1, 1933. Circulation Manager. S P E C I A L N O T I C E

Thousands of men in similar situations were break­ ing down with all sorts of neurotic disabilities, paralyses, amnesias, and so forth. His conflict found no such partial solution and relief; for his,training had accustomed him to search his own heart, to understand and frankly ex­ amine his motives; therefore the conflict took place in the open, on the plane of full consciousness. The young man described in this case had a severe struggle with himself, but it is McDougall’s opinion as a physician and a psychologist that if this young man had not been in the habit o f thoughtful prayer, confessing his sins and difficulties to the Lord, he would have become a para­ lytic or a victim o f amnesia or insanity. (It must be noted that the Christian doctrine o f con­ fessing our sins to the Lord is not only psychologically sound. It is that, but much more. In Christian prayer, we are talking with a personal Saviour. “ I f we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” ) The interested reader who has been tinctured with a misunderstanding o f psychology ought to read through the work o f McDougall here referred to. Sound scientific psychology furnishes no evidence whatsoever in support of the doctrine o f the undisciplined life. On the other hand, the study o f psychology and the study o f medicine furnish evidence abundant and clear of the old principle announced in the Scriptures: “ Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap. He that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption.” A n A p p e a l t o t h e C h r is t ia n S t a n d a r d s A fter all, in writing for the readers o f T h e K in g ' s B u s in e s s , our final appeal is to the Bible, the infallible Word o f God. At once we are reminded of the great text, 1 John 3:4 ( R . V . ) : “ Sin is lawlessness” In Ephesians 6:4, we have the true scriptural teaching concerning the training of young people. Remember that, in the context, the word “ children” does not mean only little children: “ And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but rather bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” The word “ nurture” here literallymeans “ discipline.” I f we wish to know what is the “ discipline and admonition o f the Lord,” we are referred to Hebrews 12 :6 -8 : “ For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God'deal- eth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.” This passage is a quotation from Proverbs 3 :11 ,12: “ My son, despise not the chastening o f the Lord, neither be weary o f his correction: For whom the Lord loveth he cor- recteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.” In the book o f Proverbs, we find many very striking things pertinent to our subject: “ He that spareth his rod hateth his son : but he that loveth him chasteneth him be­ times” (13 :24 ; cf. 2 2 :1 5 ); “ Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shall beat him with the rod, and shalt de­ liver his soul from hell” ( 2 3 :13 ,14) ; “ The rod and re­ proof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame” (2 9 :1 5 ); “ He, that being often re­ proved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy” (2 9 :1 ). These references do not, o f course, refer only to literal corporal punishment. There can be no possible doubt that the educational psy­ chology o f the Bible is on the side o f the disciplined life. A rescue mission worker spoke recently in Wheaton on the subject o f law enforcement and prohibition. He made the statement that it is the unanimous testimony of

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