T h e K i n g ’ s B u s i n e s s
215
May 1932
“Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell” (Prov. 23: 13, 14). The 200-pound mother of the writer was a firm believer in a literal interpretation of the Bible, and today, as we behold a lot of soft-hearted, namby-pamby creatures, wrongly called “ mothers,” producing long lines of crim inals, we thank God upon every remembrance of that sainted, old-fashioned mother of ours. If ever we had any bitter memory of her stem rule, it is now bitter-sweet. *Even as we write, the morning paper on our desk brings the headlines: “ Boys Supplant Older Criminal.” And what an awful tale of youthful crime and deprav ity follows: “ The ‘line-up’ presents a parade of youths,” we read, “ ranging in ages from 17 to 21, versatile in crime, who cold-bloodedly and calmly recite voluntarily, in the presence of spectators and press, the most intimate details of the planning and execution of ruthless crimes.” All of which means that the fathers and mothers have failed to command their children, or to teach them the fundamental necessity of all civilization— obedience to law. There are cruelties infinitely more cruel than the application of the rod. And what are we to Think of a society, so blind to its own welfare that it approves the action o f a judge in a mid-western city, who recently fined an old-fashioned mother fifty dollars for laying her own night-prowling daughter across her lap and painting said daughter’s fun dament the hue of a rosy sunset ? That was one “ sunset” which broke the rule of regularity, and “ set” not again for a few days, it is true! There should be more such blessed experiences within the ranks of modern youth. And we do not hesitate to go a step farther and declare that if we had the power of a Mussolini, a bit of whole some chastisement would also be administered to the fun daments of fathers and mothers who fail to command their children to respect law ! o c ie t y will yet pay even more dearly than it has for mocking at the instructions o f Omnipotence in the matter of teaching youth to obey the law. Chairman Wickersham, of the Law Enforcement Commission ap pointed by President Hoover, pleading before the Amer ican Law Institute to enlist its scholarship and research to overcome the “ painfully evident” and “ rapid increase of juvenile offenders,” declared that we “ have dulled our sensibilities so that we do not take home to ourselves the sinister significance of those constant manifestations of contempt for law.” Lawlessness Within the Marital Realm God’s law is unmistakable: “ Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her that is put away committeth adultery” (Matt. 19:9 ). “ Lack of attention” to this law of God on the part of church and state has filled the land with the wreckage of marriage altars. The days before the flood were days when the world was filled with unfaithful wives and unfaithful hus bands—^general sexual laxity. And “ as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be” (Matt. 2 4 :37). Even so it was again when the age of law drew to a close. Matrimonial fidelity was made a subject of ridicule. Juvenal mockingly wrote, “ They allow them selves to be divorced before the nuptial garlands have “ New York Alarmed by 1931 Report of Police.” “ ‘Line-ups’ Now Mostly Youths in Teens.” “ Killing and Assault Cases Shown on Increase.”
Lawlessness alone is the sinister shadow which has fallen upon the nations, and within which they sit aquiver with fear. Lawlessness alone makes you fear dark pathways at nightfall. Lawlessness alone makes you lie in fear back of the unlocked door. Lawlessness alone makes you fear for the gold you put in the bank. Lawlessness alone causes na tions, in fear, to impoverish themselves with the imple ments of war. Solve the problem of lawlessness today, and in that solution you will find the solution of practically every other problem that vexes the troubled world. Respect for law is the essential fact of all civilization. Without it, life and property becomeinsecure. Chaos and anarchy reign. Respect for law is, beyond all question, the primary duty of every civilized man. “ Fear God, and keep his command ments: for this is the whole duty of man” (Eccl. 12:13). Back, back somewhere in the eternity past, a mighty cherubim rose in rebellion against the ordinances of his God. He was “ perfect” in all his “ways . . . till iniquity [lawlessness] was found” in him (Ezek. 28:14, 15). Then and there, sin began its reign, and the shadows of suffer ing, sorrow, and death entered the realm of realities. Nearly six millenniums ago, God created the head of a new race, and put him in a garden—Eden. “ By [this] one man’s disobedience many were made sinners” (Rom. 5: 19). Literally, the word “ disobedience” here used means “ lack o f attention.” God had laid down for man one law. O f one tree in the garden, God said, “ Ye shall not eat of it” (Gen. 3 :3 ). “ Lack of attention” to that law, brought tAe fall o f our race. Thus the first sin of our present race was lawlessness. That first age—the Edenic—ended in lawlessness and judgment. Every age since, together with the present age and the age to come, has had its end in an orgy of lawlessness. The outstanding sin which brought the flood upon our race in the days of Noah was lawless ness. “ And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually . . . The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with vio lence” (Gen. 6:5,11)— “ violence” that is ever and only and alone the fruit of lawlessness. Lawlessness of Youth il ia l obedience is “ the first commandment with prom ise” ; and the promise is “ that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth” (Eph. 6 : 1-3) . Disobedience to parental authority always presages judgment (cf. Rom. 1 :30-32). It belongs to the “ perilous times” of “ the last days” (2 Tim. 3:1, 2 ). At least one great nation teaches its children, and officially encourages them, in the name of liberty, to lift their fists to the faces of their parents, actually defending them in so doing. In the Soviet paper, Today, September 21, 1930, it was stated: Moscow communicates that in the opening o f the local congress o f pioneers, Yaroslavsky called upon the children to revolt against family and religion. But the revolt of youth against parental authority is not confined to poor old benighted Russia. President Hoover has reminded us that the 200,000 delinquent chil dren in this country constitute a tremendous challenge to us to study the cause o f delinquency, since “ it is not the delinquent child that is at the bar of judgment, but society itself.” And when once the study is made, we prophesy that very much of the delinquency of modern youth will be found to lie in the new freedom from parental restraint that even society itself demands shall be bestowed upon youth. The teachers of modern society have been taking issue with the old-fashioned doctrine of the old-fashioned Book:
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