July 1928
401
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
“You make no gain when you merely substitute a green dogmatism for a ripe dogmatism ; there is little to choose between a tender young dogmatist and a tough old dog matist ; and there is no dogmatism as dangerous as the dogmatism of hastily acquired half-knowledge.” H. G. Wells, writing in The American Magazine, de clares that “the next and the 21st century will be the great fruiting and harvesting time of- psychological and physio- logical science. In the last 30 or 40 years psychology has laid out a whole new scheme of foundations. It has passed through a period of establishment, very much as the science of physics did in the 17th century, and the science of chemistry in the early 19th. It has given us a new and móst invigorating view of the human being from within, and there is bound to follow such a reconstruction of our methods of using our minds and of education, and of the direction of human associations, as will be compar able to the reconstruction of methods of transport or of metallurgy during the last hundred years, due to the appli cation of steam, steel, and electricity to these methods.” As the result of this new psychology, Mr. Wells be lieves there will come a revolution in human affairs alto gether more profound and intimate than that merely mate rial revolution of which our great-grandparents saw thè early beginnings, and amidst whose achievements we live. . Christian educators are being brought face to face with the problem. Many of them do not know how to deal with it. Some ministers have attempted to meet it from the pulpit and have been misunderstood by many of their members who are not yet awake to the peril. To use the word “psychology” in some churches is like raising a red flag before so many wild bulls. The minister who attempts ■ to set his young people right along these lines must expect more or less abuse; nevertheless we are challenged to a study of the subject and a warfare against this new and most subtle evil. Dr. J. Hudson Ballard of Occidental College, Los Angeles, sums the matter up well in a few words: “Be haviorism reduces all phenomena, life, intelligence, emo tions, and will, to mechanistic action and reaction. All thought and feeling are explained on the basis of nerves which react to stimuli. In this theory there is no room for God, no postulation of immortality, no moral respon sibility, no guilt, no sin and no need for a Saviour. The original psychology became mechanistic and lost its soul; it then became naturalistic and lost its mind, and it now has become behavioristic and lost its consciousness,” The all-important thing is to see to it that our young people have an experience of regeneration by the Holy Ghost, which no psychology can explain ; yet the fact remains that we must be informed to some extent upon these theories, and prepared, from the standpoint of Scrip ture, to give them battle. S tupendous M iracles of Last Days “The Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come” (Matt. 24:14). W HETHER one understands “the Gospel of the kingdom” as referring to a special proclamation of the Millennial Kingdom (as some take it), or as referring to a final witness to “the Gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God,” as Mark’s account designates it (Mk. 1:1), it is certain that the end of the age is to be preceded by a wide spread Christian witness to the nations.
In such a remarkable way are we seeing this carried out in the present day, that from month to month, as we have prepared our editorial matter, we have been im pressed with the thought that any issue of T h e K in g ’ s B u siness might be the last. Have we not abundant rea son to believe that the “witness” may any day be com pleted ? Consider the progress of missionary enterprises in the last 100 years. A little over 100 years ago no Bible society existed, and missionary societies, apart from the Jesuit and Moravian, were unknown. The progress of missions in the last fqw years is a miracle of the Holy Spirit that is nothing short of stupendous. For the first time since our Lord returned to heaven, the whole world at one time is being penetrated by the heralds of the cross. The highly perfected inventions of the last few years have given wings to the Gospel in a way hitherto un dreamed of. Think how the possibilities of printing were enlarged by Mergenthaler’s invention of the linotype machine! The output of a linotype operator equals that of!' four hand compositors, not only speeding up produc tion, but lessening the cost of literature. Another factor making for the progress of the Gospel is the type-printing machine—the printing telegraph in vented by Hughes. Bell’s telephone came into being only 52 years ago, and today a man on a continent may hold a telephone conversation with his friend on the high seas, or speak from one continent to another. Furthermore, visual telephony is making it possible for the parties talk ing to actually see each other. As we consider our rapid transit by land and sea, our radio communication, our aero plane transportation and a hundred other recent inventions that have brought distant continents, as it were, to our very doors, changing the customs of centuries- within a few months’ time, it makes .one think furiously. Palestine, after thirteen centuries of Moslem domina-
H ow C i v i l i z a t i o n
. . . F e l l T h r o u g h D R. W. C. PEARCE at one o f the prelimi nary banquets of the World’s Sunday School Convention told the following story which will perhaps be o f service to some of our readers : Two big bears decided that they would be come civilized. They had difficulty in deciding how they should attain this state. One hit upon a plan. “We will start a fight,” he said, “and then we will become civilized.” “But how shall we start the fight?” asked the other. Then came a bright idea: “I will get a nice big apple and place it upon a stump and then we will fight to see who gets it.” The apple was duly placed. Said the first bear: “There it is now. It’s mine. What are you going to do about it?” “Oh, well,” replied the other, “I ’ll just let you have it if you want it.” A nd so C iv ilization F ell T hrough .
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