THE K I N G ’ S BUS I NE S S
782
noticeable object to be seen in the moral world. It is a stupendous landmark encircling the globe. Perilous State of Society The Pope of Rome describes the moral conditions of the world in his five specifications, viz:— 1. The unprecedented challenge to authority. 2. An unprecedented hatred be tween man and man. 3. The abnormal aversion to work. 4. The excessive thirst for pleasure as the great aim of life- 5. A gross materialism which denies the reality of the spiritual in human life. Yet, he judges, the case is not hope less, but can be effectually remedied by the world’s return to his authority, though the middle ages when the Papacy was supreme can hardly be cited in proof! When a famous lawyer graphically and with undeniable facts portrays the sordid and perilous state of society caused by “ The Spirit of Lawlessness” (the title of his lecture), he also— in stead of voicing God’s declaration of judgment, and so warning humanity,—- with a hopeless perversity asserts his faith in “ the inextinguishable spark of the Divine which is in the human soul,” and finds his “ Bulwark (wall) in the Constitution” which is “ as the Rock of Gibraltar.” . This sounds well, but it has one fatal defect in that it is not the dictum of God. Judgment for disobe dience Is His unchanging decree! This noted and seemingly well-inten tioned lawyer (and he must be given credit for at least truly describing the conditions) at the conclusion quotes Scripture, a n d singularly enough chooses a passage that is strikingly^ appropriate in the way it can be used against himself. Here is his perora tion: “ Let us then, as its (the Con stitution’s) interpreters and guardians
al language but clear and positive, yes, even lurid in its realism, as though specially designed to guard against mis conception, the very strongest of these expressions coming from the lips of Him who is the infallible authority. Be sides which there is the unalterable principle which observation and expe rience should induce even those who re ject the Scripture testimony to deem conclusive, viz: There can be no Peace without Righteousness! That the foun dation of righteousness now exists who will claim? False and Deadly Optimism “ One built up a wall, and lo, others daubed it with untempered morter.” Who the first modem builder of this in secure refuge against the threatened destruction was it is hard to determine, nor is it needful, the expression likely simply refers to the imitative spirit of the foolish laborers. The pernicious and persistent folly has come down from ancient time,— it is in tiie blood of the unregenerate of all ages; yet there has been a modern impetus dating back to the initial higher criticism of Astruc, the evolution theory of Darwin, and of course the atheism of the eighteenth century. All these combined with the pride engendered by success in inven tion, discovery and intellectual progress have made humanity insanely drunk with a false and deadly optimism which looks to a culmination of universal peace and contentment. Poets have descanted on it; statesmen, though har ried and harassed by crushing cares, have predicted it; modern theology, denying the inerrancy of God’s Word, has taught it; and all the new system# of “ religion” have embodied it until the world is dimly illuminated by this all- pervading ignis fatuus, with a poison gas quality added. As the Chinese wall is the most prom inent artificial structure on earth, so is this wall of mud the greatest, the most
Made with FlippingBook HTML5