November, 1941
T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
411
to pay any tuition — only nominal amounts for board, room, and registra tion. The actual cost of student train ing is borne by the Lord’s stewards who for more than a quarter of a century have recognized the importance of sending forth witnesses dedicated “unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood” (Rev. 1:5). The increased enrollment brings in creased needs and multiplied oppor tunities. May God; grant that the full ness of His purpose be fulfilled in every particular. For what else should Christians be more grateful than for the clear shin ing of the Word of God upon the problems of everyday existence ? In a brief new volume*, G. Campbell Morgan recently has focused the beams of Scripture upon the old question, “What is the cause behind all the strife and bloodshed in the world today ?" To this discussion he has added some very perti nent considerations f o r Christians. Written amid the confusion of bombed London, where his own church has been severely damaged by enemy shells, the four simple chapters of this study go to the root of the matter. Dr. Morgan declares (bold-face type ours): “We are face to face with the forces of evil as we never were in our lives before. We saw something of it twenty-five years ago, but we have never seen anything quite like this. We ask, Whence comes this madness, this iniquity of tne human race?- We find it in this fact, that man has accepted the views of Satan, has yielded to them, and has brought about all the sorrow and trouble that result from such acceptation. Let us realize that. . . . “ All the story of the centuries is just the story of the fact that man has accepted false views of God, has listened to the voice of the devil, as it questioned the good ness of God, denied His severity, and slandered His motive. . . . “Today we are facing the results Thanks for New Light on Old Problems
' of his calumny, the results of his slander upon God, which humanity listened to, took to, accepted, and rebelled against the’ government. And the issue has been the denial of God, or else denial of the rev elation of God that has been granted -to man In Christ.” Of course, it is easy to blame the devil for everything. But there are deeper implications. The history of any nation is but*the history of the indi viduals who compose that nation. If, as Dr. Morgan indicates, there has been an almost wholesale acceptance of the views and methods of Satan, individual men and women have made that ac ceptance. The matter ft narrowed down to personal considerations: How much authority do I actually give tq the evil one ? How much domination has he over my physical being, my spiri tual life, my vocational ambitions? If Christians would solemnly face this question, and would in a new sense “submit . . . to God,” in order that they might “resist the devil” (Jas. 4:7), they would have cause for profound thanks to God for the enlightenment of His Word. Streamlining Thanksgiving Some of the religious liberals in America apparently have endeavored conscientiously to abandon the obser vance of religious customs in which they no longer believe. Perhaps they are realizing that thinking people will not follow them unless they bring their practices and public pronouncements into consistency with their real beliefs. Witness Professor James Henry Leuba’s statement in his book, Belief in God and Immortality (p. 324) on the subject of Thanksgiving Day: “ Of the sense of a real, immediate dependence upon a personal divin ity, there remain in Christian states but a few pitiable remnants. In the United States the most con spicuous one is the yearly procla mation of a Day. of Thanksgiving by which the members of the nation are called upon to return thanks to God for the good that has fallen to their lot and that of the country during the ye^\” You are probably : wondering just what is wrong with this time-honored custom whiclr year after year has brought millions to the house of God
to lift their voices in praise to God. Well, here it is, according to the author of this book: “From an expression of genuine belief,” continues the professor, “this custom has become an objec tionable tradition which, the sooner it is abandoned, the better for those who keep it up and for those to whom it is addressed. It were better, instead, that we should be taught to realize our dependence upon each other and the gratitude we owe to the millions who strive, often in material and moral disr tress, in order to build our material and. spiritual prosperity.” We have no quarrel with the profes sor as to the propriety of expressing gratitude toward our human benefac tors. There is far too much post-mortem kindness. Flowers on the coffin shed no fragrarice backward over the weary way* by which; a man has traveled. What is worse than being an ingrate? Praise is a debt we owe to others every day in the year. But why eenter all our praises on man and. leave God out:—even to the extent of one special day in the year? “It is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise” (Psa. 100:3, 4). What a daring man is the modernist who says there is no Creator and no heavenly Father and who hopes to per suade the racé that he has such im mense intelligence as to be able to assure us that man is the only god there is. Thank man and quit thanking God, he suggests. What colossal ego tism! There are still thoughtful persons who see the Lord’s handiwork everywhere and instinctively lift their hearts in adoration to Him. They can sing: “When I survey the bright celestial sphere, So rich with jewels hung that night Doth like an Ethiop bride appear, My soul her wings doth spread and heavenward flies The Almighty’s mysteries to read In the great volume of the skies.” Feast on Thanksgiving Day if you will, put pause for an hour to utter the praises of the God of nature and of grace who in all His works appears. —Keith L. Brooks.
‘ Tht Voice of Hit Devil, Fleming R . Revel] Co., fi. V,
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