January, 1942
THE K I N G ’ S BUS I NES S
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THA ILAND— prominent in the war news of today— has been Mr. Hanna’s field of service for many years. There he has had charge of two schools with a total enrollment of 800, but his main activity has been evangelistic. From what is now a storm center, he sent, prior to Thailand’s occupation, this penetrating meditation with its dramatic conclusion. Those Finer Things By LOREN S. HANNA
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He knew that he was entirely re sponsible for the condition that had come about, but still in his e’gotistical pride he would not acknowledge his sin, even to himself. He defended him self by blaming his wife and son. He knew that they prayed for him, but even that made him angry; he de clared he did not need to have. any one pray for him. He could take care of himself; he could drink or let it alone. He was as good as any one in church. He could pray, too, if he wanted to, and some day he would, but not just, now. His pride kept him from repentance and a return to the Lord. Little did he realize^ the expe riences into which he was going to plunge himself, his wife, and his son before this resulLcould be achieved. The relationships between men', in their finer implications, are the most precious and at the same time the most delicate thing in the human life. Brutality, coarseness, vulgarity.—all these shut the ’door of the heart ■against the best things of life, and fellowship. Ridicule can not encour age mutual confidence. Selfishness dulls the heart to love and sympathy. ! Pride belittles those who should be | our closest companions. , Insincerity and doubt make intimacy impossible. ' I If all this be true in regard to our human relationship, how can it but be true in regard to man’s relation ship with God? The finest things in
of a few moments before! She knew that her husband was accustomed to ridicule his wife and son before' his brutal and foul-mouthed companions, and that he had no desire for the fel lowship of his family. At one time the husband and wife had been greatly devoted to each other. The husband had taken an in terested part in the activities.of the church and of the young people. He was always happy and clever in enter taining friends. There was the family worship .every morning. When their son was old enough to go to school, the father accompanied him to the school gate every morning for the first year, and he helped him with his home assignments when the boy advanced to that Stage. But temptations came. There were companions who offered him' enticing positions, but there were social com promises involved. First he consented to smoke cigarettes with them, then to take just a sip of liquor. Then the family worship began to be neg lected, and church attendance. Before long all the old ties were dissolved, and new habits of life formed. Plead as she might, the wife’s pomforts and the fellowship of the home life were ignored. The companions who tempted him deserted him after his money was gone and he ceased to be a brilliant entertainer. He became- dull, Coarse, vulgar, repulsive. His family came to suffer want.
I. A MOTHER and her young son, a boy of fifteen years, were at X A. home together. The mother sat at the piano; the lad was playing the violin. He was improvising, and strains of musical beauty came from the strings. Occasionally the' music was interrupted by conversation re garding school, about beauties of nature, or concerning the love of God. There were signs of poverty; yet there was a light of joy in the faces of mother and son as they spoke of eter nal things in the grace of Christ. Suddenly heavy f o o t s t e p s were heard on the verandah; the mother’s face turned pale; the brightness faded from the face of the lad. A drunken, brutal-faced man came into the room. He noted a change in the room; he knew there was something from which he was excluded; he knew that he was excluded by his own foulness, his own brutality, his own sinfulness. Yet to be conscious of the fact made him revengeful. The boy put his violin away, the mother left the piano, and a curtain of separateness fell upon them. The father glared at the lad, and then at the mother. “You think that you are too good to' play for your father, do you?” he exclaimed. The boy’s face hardened; tears were ip the eyes of the mother. What a contrast between this scene and that
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