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July 1932
T h e K i n g ’ s B u s i n e s s
put to flight by sudden attacks of smaller forces. But a German, Wellhausen, says it is ‘simply impossible,’ and so English and American professors echo ‘simply impossible’ ! And this assertion, unbacked by fact, is called ‘an assured result of scientific criticism.’ Neither can it be shown that there are any references in the law of Moses that are un suitable to the age of Moses. Shall I go on, Professor?” “ You may if you choose,” was the brief answer. “ As for the assertion that certain technical expressions — and I am still quoting Dr. Wilson— indicate a different author from other parts of the Pentateuch, it is entirely unsupported by any geological or archaeological evidence whatever. I am prepared to give facts, references, and so on, to any inquiring soul on any point raised by this evening’s discourse. And I am convinced that God Him self brought me here this evening to defend His Word. I am aware that this is an unusual procedure, but I feel that the occasion warrants it. When young lives and new faith hang in the balance, it is no time to stand on cere mony. In conclusion, let me compliment the Junior Assem bly upon their chairman of the evening. He has shown up well in a most trying position. It is such young men that we are looking for in Washington, and we hope that the day may not be far distant when he will join us there.” “ And to think that I was there to hear it !” whispered Eleanor to Sonia rapturously as Rodney drove them home with a dash that made them hold fast. “ Your brother is a fine specimen,” said Sonia softly. “ Yes, Rod is a dear. But I never knew how dear till he closed the meeting with that regretful courtesy to the professor and that brave last sentence— ‘The great trouble with the world today is that men have not been making serving God the basis of human conduct.’ ” And Eleanor looked happily up at the friendly stars as she remembered reading in her verse book that morning: “ They before the throne o f God . . . serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; . . . and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.” Prophecy [Continued from page 315] and the son of the bondwoman cannot return. Hear the decree: “ Thus saith the Lord God concerning Edom. . . . The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock. . . . Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down. . . . How are the things of Esau searched out! . . . For thy violence against thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever. . . . Thou shouldst not have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction. . . . The day o f the Lord is near upon all the heathen [nations] : as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head. . . . The house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house o f Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them; and there shall not be any re maining of the house o f Esau; for the Lord hath spoken it. . . . But upon Mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; and the house o f Jacob shall pos sess their possessions . . . the kingdom shall be the Lord’s.”
The professor himself began to sense the situation. As he said afterward, he was “ going over their heads.” Quickly he veered, his purpose being to reclaim the inter est o f his audience. “ That old stuff about the youth of the day,” Rodney groaned inwardly. “ Doesn’t he know we’re all fed up on that? Yes, we know it.” This last was in response to an especially impassioned bit of oratory, when the fist on the table made the glasses rattle, as Professor Stall shouted, “ But you’re young —you’re young!” The peroration of the address summed up its content: “ As long as you imagine you must serve God, you are simply prolonging human chaos! Don’t you see it? To make ‘serving God’ the basis of conduct is unsound, be cause it does not take into consideration individual human welfare. We start serving God when we serve ourselves best. Unless we are really happy, we might as well get off the planet and leave it to the animals who can enjoy themselves.” Somehow Rodney found himself on his feet. Somehow his hand found the gavel. As it came down with a resound ing whack, Professor Harry Allmire Stall sank into his seat mopping his brow. “We pronounce the meeting thrown open,” intoned the young chairman. “ Let us have an orderly forum, please.” A stormy session followed. Rodney preserved a quiet exterior and a firm judicial hold of the situation. “ That lad is going to make a leader—perhaps a leader o f his country, some day,” said a distinguished visitor who had run over from the nation’s capitol and had been brought to the Assembly by his niece. hen the torrent of protests had died down and a few of the Juniors, who were still distinctly not in terested, had departed to other entertainment, a demand was made on Professor Stall to give authority for some o f his statements. “ It’s only fair for the professor to give us the required data—about Moses, for example,” said a rosy-cheeked boy, shyly. Professor Stall’s reply was historic. It included all stock arguments and was studded with archaeological and scientific observations. But somehow it arrived nowhere. No one was convinced. A few more Juniors began to show symptoms of leaving. “ It seems to us Professor Stall is stalling,” one of the debating team remarked aloud. Rodney resisted the laugh, and frowned at this o f fender, but before he could call the meeting to order, the distinguished guest, whose niece had been lost in admira tion of Rodney, arose slowly. “ The professor is not—ah, evading, or stalling as our young friend has observed,” he said quietly. There was instant silence. “ He is merely misinformed. He has not been in touch with the sources of scientific information recently opened up to us.” Every one was intent on his words, for nearly every one there knew who this man from Washington was. The Juniors who had been preparing to leave changed their minds. “ I should not have expressed myself if this man of learning had not invited a discussion,” went on the stranger, as he took some papers out of an inner pocket. “ Robert Dick Wilson, late of Princeton and Westminster, tells us that the three kings in Genesis 14 confederated with Chedorlaomer have been identified as kings of the time of Hammurabi, and that oriental armies were often
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