King's Business - 1940-12

D ecem b er, 1940

TH E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S

464

dream, that arc the harvest of unrest. To be filled with the Spirit is to be on the straight road to eternal peace, and to cooperate with that divine pur­ pose which is behind all the activity of the world. Where do we stand ? SIGNIFICANCE OF THE NEWS [Continued from Page 454] majority of more than two to one in Uie United States House of Represen­ tatives. WHITHER AMERICA? • Peace time conscription is new in American history. Our fathers delib­ erately avoided it\ in previous crises, because they feared thè precedent it might set. An armed force can protect the na­ tion from Nazi invasion by troops and bombing planes. But military strength cannot defend us from invasion by the Na?i ideology. The spirit of militarism may conquer, even when the hosts of Prussiajjism are turned back. The spirit of Nazism—of regimentation, of per­ secution, of tyranny, of paganism—is still our greatest threat. ' Already we hear signals and see symptoms of the development of a spirit opposed to* our free institutions. When Congress passed the conscription bill, even its most ardent advocates looked upon it as a “necessary evil.” Now we see the formation of a cam­ paign of propaganda for the 'glorifica­ tion of militarism. Some would have us believe that training in the arts of killing is the “ideal” education for the young. They talk of making mili­ tary training compulsory for all youths, even after the “crisis” is past. Let American patriots keep their feet on the ground. This nation has always stood for peace, and the way of peace. Our fathers did everything possible to avoid a large standing army. They ab­ horred the spirit and system of militar­ ism. They looked forward with hope to a world which would solve its prob­ lems in justice, rather than bloodshed. That hope seems shattered. That ideal seems a long way off. We shall not quarrel with Congress. The govern­ ment has decreed that we must be pre­ pared, our youth must be given mili­ tary training, because of the rise of military dictators who threaten us from abroad. But it is still a thing to be regretted. It is still a tragedy. The whole system of aggressive warfare is brutal. Let us not glorify that system which Hitlerism -has forced upon the nations o f the world. But rather, let us pray that, if it be according to God’s will, this nation and the youth of this na­ tion may be spared involvement in war, and may be preserved in liberty against the forces of regimentation operating from within as well as from w ith o u t o u r land.

extending his business, or he must go backward. The Holy Spirit is busy en­ lightening us all the time. As long as we keep responsive to His will and sug­ gestions, we are filled with the Spirit; and in that attitude the range of our inner life is being expanded and deep­ ened. We are filled with the^Spirit when we keep giving good will instead of har­ boring resentment toward others. The Holy Spirit is all action, and never re­ action. The Spirit so lived in Christ Jesus that when He was reviled, He re­ viled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not. The Spirit is continu­ ally helping us toward unselfishness in word and deed, toward charity, good will, graciousness. It may be in the silence, or in activity, but it is always in the way of maintaining peace in our own spirit. It is reaction in our inner lives which destroys our peace^—irrita­ tions, revenges. But so long as there are no reactions, there will be no breach of the peace in our souls. The attitude of the Spirit in us is one of perpetual giving, and so long as we live in that attitude, we are filled with the Spirit. But when there are stirred up within us feelings of hate or ill will, then we have stopped the progress of the Spirit’s purpose; we have grieved the Spirit; we have brought about an inner change in our life. : And it is at that point that life­ long resentments begin. That attitude toward even one person not only grieves the Spirit, but also lowers the tempera­ ture of the whole range of our inner life. , The fact of being filled with the Spirit enriches our relations to every one. It is our fundamental contribu­ tion to the betterment of all human relations. Our first contribution to life is not something outwardly \done; it is our being possessed by the divine Spirit. It is not something done; it is a con­ dition reali^d. As we are filled with the Spirit, we shall let the Spirit speak through us as witnesses t of Chiist to other people. The Holy Spirit descends upon those who surrender to His in­ fluence to speak for Christ to others. The Spirit is continually emphasizing in our consciousness the real, the abiding, the eternal things, while our lower self is continually emphasizing the things that perish, that are forgotten as a

TW O NO T EW O RTH Y -------- BOOKS --------- THE HOLY SPIRIT By Rev. Wick Broomall This book is a veritable thesaurus of in­ formation on one of the most profound yet most practical of the essential doc­ trines of the Christian faith. By its clarity and C on vin cin g logic it dispels the dense ignorance .concerning the person and redemptive work of .the Holy Spirit. KNOW THE TRUTH By Rev. Joseph A. Cottam, Ph. D. This book vividly presents the great essentials of the Christian faith In a comprehensive and most' convincing man­ ner. It is a penetrating, constructive, timely message by a man whose, mind probes deeply, thinks clearly, and with a definite purpose. to be on my side; I want to be on God’s side.” That is it. There is a differ­ ence between using the Spirit, and be­ ing used by the Spirit. The supreme fact in life is the initia- tive of God, not our imitation of Him. God Himself, through His own creative intelligence, is working out His mighty purposes through men and women who are surrendered to Him. If I were asked the most fundamental fact in the world, I would say it is the initiative of God ,in the human spirit whereby men and women cooperate with the divine Spirit for the coming of the kingdom of Ggd in themselves and in the world. And He is here now, not that we should imi­ tate Him, but that we should fulfill our destiny through cooperating with Him in His high purpose. Another reason that we may have the Spirit without being possessed by the Spirit may be that we have stopped obeying Him and His promptings. We can quench the Spirit, just as we can turn off the light. The Spirit may make Christ and His will' very clear and def­ inite to us, and we can turn away from that revelation. When the Spirit told Ananias to speak to Saul of Tarsus, Ananias began to argue with the Spirit of God, as we do when we quench the Spirit. The area of the Spirit in our lives is enlarged only through obedi­ ence, for obedience is the organ of spir­ itual vision. Th e H oly Spirit W o rk in g Again, when is one filled with the Spirit? When we are translating the light the Spirit sheds abroad into life, we are turning vision into action; we are working out 'what the Spirit works within u s / It is that attitude of keep­ ing pace with the Spirit’s direction and purpose that enlarges His area of con­ trol in us. Life is either a going forward or backward. A man must either go on PRICE $1.5« EACH POSTPAID American Tract Society Orgmmixod / S iS t i W€ST 46th STRICT HEW YORK. N.y.

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