87
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
March, 1933
Yet there are some strange phases in the present world depression, exceptional phases, suggesting a sinister spirit hand behind the scenes. On one hand, vast values of food are being burned up or are rotting in the ground or on the trees, while in other parts, countless people are without necessary food. There is more money in the world than ever before, but the banking experts say vast total sums are being hoarded, hidden in old stockings and under bricks in dark cellars, because the owners are afraid of trusting it to banks. Loss o f faith in others is a distinct mark of the present situation.
countless individual and group exceptions. This is the characteristic of the whole world situation. If I repeat the names o f Sodom and Gomorrah, certain moral conditions at once come to mind. Today those con ditions are a commonplace everywhere one may look, Orient and Occident alike. The relation between the sexes is an unfailing index finger to general moral conditions. This is true, history through, the whole earth around. Today that index finger is pointing, unmistakably, in a way to break one’s heart. The third look out is in the school world, from kinder garten to post-graduate university courses. And this takes
T he G eneva O utlook Then the political situa tion is not only tense, but changing overnight, and yet the main lines remain un changed. This is seen in sharp perspective,at Geneva. Geneva has become pecu liarly the world sounding board since the League of Nations began its activity there. Sitting in the press gal lery, looking down on the assembly in its thirteenth annual gathering there this autumn, made one’s pulse beat quicker decidedly. Fifty-eight nations there, in their official representa tives, with experts, secretar ies, and substitutes, made an intense study of geography, races,j languages;*} religions, .and deep-seated hatreds and prejudices. The temporary chairman,: DeValera, in courteous lan guage says the League is a failure, and a very extrava gant failure. It is carefully avoiding main issues. It does nothing about Ja pan invading Chinese sov ereignty contrary to treaty obligations. It shuts its eyes to France and Germany
hold o f one’s emotions pe culiarly, for it concerns the children and young people. In education, the distinc tive thing is emphasis. The greatest emphasis is always repetition. Today the em phasis in the school world is on science. The emphasis in sciences is on the natural sciences. The emphasis there is on the science o f biology, with geol ogy a close second. Biology, o f course, is the science o f life, how we hu mans came to be here. The common emphasis just now in biology is on the hypothe sis of organic evolution to explain the origin o f life. That teaching, of course, is that human life began at the lowest level of inorganic life, that it developed, or evolved, upward, step by step, until human life was produced. U ncompromising G aps There are gaps in the process, frankly acknowl edged, as they must be, of course. But these gaps are conveniently ignored in the common teaching. However, it is frankly ac knowledged, under pressure,
*
1. The Religious Outlook. This touches upon the five essentials o f our Christian fa ith : The distinctive Book. The distinctive personality of the one Man o f the Book. The distinctive death that that Man died. The badness of sin that necessitated that death. The free choice o f every man to accept or reject Christ. 2. The Moral Conditions. The moral fabric o f the race is ragged. The free use o f cologne water and flowers does not conceal the fou l odor. 3. The School World. The common emphasis just now is on the hypothesis o f organic evolution to ex plain the origin o f life. 4. The Material Situation. Loss o f faith in others is a distinct mark of the present situation. 5. The Political Situation. Geneva has become peculiarly the world sounding board since the League o f Nations began its activity there. Epochal events are heading up, intensely, and not slowly. 6. The Throne Outlook. The earth is enswathed in the most terrific storm, a very real, material, moral storm. But above the storm, it is clear. In the clear;: there is a throne, a seat o f absolute control; and on the throne is a Man. May we, down here in the fog- storm, not fail that expectant Man on the edge of the throne !
glaring threateningly at eachother across the Rhine. When the day’s notices tell that the French Premier is to speak, the head o f the German delegation takes the first fast train to Berlin to avoid listening. One cannot avoid the deepening impression that epochal events in the world’s political situation are heading up, intensely and not slowly. The old Book of God, in its prophetic pages, plainly points out a world crisis at some future day, if the words be taken at their simple meaning. The leading statesmen of Europe frankly confess, when no reporters are present, that there is a world crisis now impending, which they are doing their utmost to prevent. The natural question pushes in: Is this threatening crisis that predicted crisis? And no one may say. The more one knows o f the present world situation, the more cautious his speech. When the Locarno agreement was signed seven years ago, I was finishing the little book, Quiet Talks on the
that no fact of science has ever yet been found that runs counter to the creation story on the first page of Genesis. This teaching, of course, is unbiblical, and unchristian. Yet today it is in the whole school world, as a deep, heavy fog, dominating all the air being breathed by the yoiing peo ple from primary up. There are exceptions, increasingly few, but distinct, in every land. But this is the broad characteristic of the world school situation. It is most striking that there is a distinct group of biol ogists of the highest rank in every country of Christendom, who in type and by tongue, plainly characterize this teach ing, from the scientific point of view, as “ childish,” puer ile,” “ infantile.” But the teaching persists everywhere like a deep black London winter fog. The fourth look out will be on the material situation. And here the less said the greater the emphasis. The prints are full of it everywhere. Every one’s purse strings feel the tug.
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker