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THE K I N G ’S BUS I NES S te th an d no m an openeth.” W ill th e tim e come th rough the m isuse of m issionary opportunities, and abuse of n ational privileges, and th e neglect of th e church, when men will pass laws th a t will b ar th e open preaching of the Gospel? If so, then, let us jum p a t every opportunity to make Christ known now, lest th e la tte r p a rt of th is verse become tru e in our day, “He th a t sh u tteth and no man openeth ” —W. H. P. T H IS M A TT ER of Reconstruction We have before us a copy of th e New York Herald, dated April 15, 1865. It records the assassination of P resid en t Lincoln, th e su rrend er of Gen. Lee, the movements.of Gen. Sherman, the la st appeal of Jeff Davis to his followers and an article on th e question of “R econstruction a fte r th e W ar.” The problem of reconstruction in those days was great, b u t a mere drop in th e bucket to w hat it is today w ith the whole world involved. The world had been generally suppposed to have arrived a t th e point where w ar was impossible, when th is most terrib le cataclysm came upon us. Is it any wonder th a t a prom i nen t note in th e peace parleys has been PEAR OF THE FUTURE? In spite of th e extremely optim istic views heralded by some preachers as to th e new born world brotherhood of man, it becomes more and more apparen t th a t not only is it impossible to make the world safe for democracy, b u t equally out of th e question to make democracy safe for th e world. The spectre of the fu tu re persists in h aun ting the best dream s of statesm en, and th e re is abundan t S crip tu ral reason for believing th a t th ere is yet to come upon the world th a t which can only be stayed from en tirely destroying hum anity, by the personal coming of th e Prince of Peace. Clemenceau is no prophet bu t he says: “W ar is no t a t an end; th e re is merely a lull in th e sto rm .” The P rim e M inister of G reat B ritain says: “ I would n o t like to predict w h at will happen in th e next year or two. Civilization, unless we try and save it, and save together, may be precipitated and sh attered into atom s.” Secretary of W ar Baker says: “ I do no t know w hat we will have in the next war, b u t I know th a t already we were on th e eve of seeing implements which will be controlled by w ireless devices, and which will be launched from here, say, and aimed a t a place 150 miles away and will be controlled by w ireless waves un til they get there, and then drop down in th e m iddle of a populous city 500 pounds of TNT and blow up men and women by the thousands.” Secretary of th e Navy Daniels, says: “ If the conference does not resu lt in a general agree m ent to pu t an end to naval building on the p a rt of all nations, then th e U. S. m ust bend her energies, m ust give her men and give her money to th e ta sk of th e creation of incomparably the g reatest navy in th e world.” Ju stice Clarke of the U. S. Supreme Court says: “Something new ; something different, m ust be introduced into th e in tern ation al organization of th e world if we can legitim ately hope for anything like perm anent peace. Unless something is done, we shall cer tainly d rift into ano ther war, and w hat is th a t next war to b e?” W hat is th a t SOMETHING NEW and D IFFERENT? Have we not yet learned th a t th ere can be no perm anent reconstruction ap a rt from th e sp iritual reconstruction of th e individual? ; We are th ink ing too much in m ultitudes. We ta lk of SOCIAL regeneration. It is easy to th in k in the mass. I t gives some people a terrib le sensation to get down to th ink ing of the individual. An English
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