264
August, 1933
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
“ Impossible in the land o f the Pilgrim fathers,” do you say ? So you would have said a few short months ago of the land o f Luther. “ Statolatry” “ O ye hypocrites!” exclaimed the Master in disgust when He walked upon earth among the blinded “ doctors” nineteen centuries ago. “ Ye can discern the face of the sky! Can ye not discern the signs o f the times?” But “ the signs o f the times” today are speaking in such stentorian tones that even among the “ hypocrites” we find some sense of their discernment. Possibly for the first time, a journal of modernistic religion, ignorant of prophecy, actually has a vision o f the God-State so clearly revealed within the Word. It comes from Britain. The Christian World (Feb. 16,1933) says: What is rapidly becoming perhaps the most urgent and critical question of our time is that everywhere the nations are making rapid strides towards the omnicompetent state. In Russia and in Italy that ideal has already been attained and is in full operation. Nor are these to be regarded as unique and bizarre political experiments. They represent the line of political development along which we are being relentlessly driven. We have indeed already made our beginning in this country. W e are heading for the abso lutist, omnicompetent state claiming complete loyalty to itself. In place o f the doctrine of the divine right of kings, we shall have the doctrine o f the divine right of the state, but with this difference, that the state will be able to exert a pressure a hundredfold greater than was possible to a king. Such a state would present a most direct challenge to the Christian,; since such a claim to absolute obedience would conflict with his conviction that that obedience is due to God alone. Fascism, in its final analysis, calls for a supersupremacy over the souls as well as the bodies of men. It has been quite properly designated “ Statolatry.” “ The construction o f the Fascist State,” says the Times (London ), “ has in volved the abolition o f many o f what are regarded in other countries as the most precious and elementary rights o f man” (Oct. 26, 1928). It may prove to be a bit interesting, if not disturbing, to Americans to know that recently, after our superpresident’s peace message to the world, that mes sage was not only “ pronounced satisfactory to the Roman Empire,” but that one paper published a striking cartoon in which the Statue o f Liberty was pictured holding aloft the emblem of Fascism instead o f the usual torch !
gate o f His Holy Father. It is a happy combination on this occasion—Flag Day, great dignitaries o f the church, and among them the President o f the United States. “ A happy combination” ? Who, knowing the last thou sand years o f history does exclaim: “ Happy” ? God help us! “ A happy combination” ? Who, knowing “ the sure word o f prophecy,” signed and sealed (Rev. 22:16) by the Lord Himself, did not long ago know this “ happy com bination” would some day arrive with very unhappy re sults? “ And I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast.” A “ harlot” astride a “ beast” stalking out into the open! “ A happy combination” indeed! “ But,” you say, “ the President of the United States is only ‘superdictator’ in the political, industrial, and financial realm.” Very well; but remember, from there it is only a step over into the religious realm. Returning to the incident in Washington: A fter receiv ing his “ Doctor of Laws” from one of the greatest enemies to freedom o f conscience the world has ever known, in the spiritual realm, and after the remarkable declaration that the President and “ superdictator” o f the United States hoped “ to see much in the next four years o f the apostolic delegate o f His Holy Father,” tremendously significant was the commencement address of Cardinal Hayes, in which he said: It is the genius o f our government that in times o f crises we can centralise authority and the power to act effectively and quickly. , “ Our government” ! W e wonder just whose “ govern ment” he meant, “ the genius” o f which is “ to centralize authority” so that it has “ the power to act effectively and quickly” ? Voices from the tombs o f Jerome of Prague, Huss, Latimer, Ridley, o f St. Bartholomew’s thirty thou sand Huguenots, and many, many other thousands o f mar tyred saints eloquently speak! They need no interpreter. “ He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” America needs to reflect that it is only a step from a superdictatorship over industry—-over the bodies o f men— to a superdictatorship over the souls o f men. “ The sure word o f prophecy” proclaims that the two will be one: “And he had power to . . . cause that as many as would not WORSH IP the image o f the beast should be killed . . . and that no man might BU Y OR SELL, save he that had the mark, or the name o f the beast” (Rev. 13:15, 17).
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“ And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh” (Lk. 2 1 :28). “ Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thess. 4 :17 ). “ Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him” (Rev. 1 :7).
Think. Have you kept His last command? Think. Do you watch with prayer? Think. A re you sure when H e appears You’ll meet Him in the air? “ Behold, H e comes with clouds”—we read, Oh, search the Word and learn; It is the faithful one who meets The Lord at His return!
The earth is filled with great distress, And graft is everywhere; Flood, famine, war, and pestilence Have added to our care. Distress is great— but through the gloom Dawn’s miracle o f light Recalls strange words o f prophecy About a thief— at night . . .
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