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Ag
HE ancient torchbearer ran fast
enough to fan the flame he car-
ried but did not press forward so
swiftly that he extinguished the
light. Thus the torch race of ancient Greece
gives us something to think about today.
The churches, educational institutions,
and even the nations of the present are
pressing the race dangerously fast. And as
interested bystanders whose welfare de-
pends on the race, we shout in agitated
earnestness: Don’t put out the light.
That the danger is real few will deny.
Many feel that the light of Christianity and
even of civilization itself will soon go out,
and leave this world in a horrible darkness.
Churchmen, educators, and statesmen, be-
holding the mad race of the present, have
all voiced this fear. Several years ago
Viscount Grey exclaimed, ‘Lights are go-
ing out all over Europe.”
Thus people everywhere are perplexed.
An American business man recently said
what applies to more than the business
world of which he wrote:
“For the past several weeks I have been
traveling almost all the time; and while
my contacts were mainly with small busi-
ness men, I nevertheless talked with men
and women from all walks of life, from day
laborers to corporation presidents. The re-
sult of all these conversations can be
summed up in one word—confusion.”’—
“Vital Speeches,” Oct. 15, 19/41.
Well may we ask, What has created this
situation? And then follow that question
with another, Is there a remedy? Such
MAY, 1942
29s
t]7s
AY
eet
¥ Photographed without his
knowledge, this penztent kneels on
the steps of a church in one of the
war-torn countries of Europe. The
church bears the marks of the in-
vading forces. It is such spiritual
tmportunity that tends to avord a
moral blackout.
Z2L
77 KL
questions demand proper and
satisfying answers.
Primarily, it may be said,
the condemnation for the
present crisis rests on the
church. The church should be
“the light of the world.” And
if a considerable portion of the
church has run so fast and so
far that it has extinguished
that light, it has surpassed the
divine commission and has be-
come the target of just criti-
cism.
Every repudiation of revealed light,
every denial of gospel truth, and every de-
parture from the charted way help to ex-
tinguish the light of life and promote con-
fusion and spiritual darkness.
And that the church has in many in-
stances departed from the truths of the
gospel and the simple but mighty tenets of
faith enunciated by Christ needs not my
testimony to substantiate. The church to a
large extent has run fast and far since the
days of Jesus and the apostles. She has
even run far since the days of Luther and
Knox, or of Wesley and Moody. And in
running fast and far she has largely ex-
tinguished her light, and darkness has
taken its place.
Then, there was a time when higher in-
stitutions of learning were instruments of
the church and decided lights for truth and
righteousness. Christianity was the foun-
dation of the edifice of learning.
How different it is today when many
Christian colleges repudiate the creation
and even God by elevating the theory of
evolution to the throne of the universe,
and by exalting nature above the Trinity.
Worldly institutions go farther, they em-
ploy teachers who deny the sanctity of mar-
riage and advocate free-love and promis-
culty, who deny even the decencies of
humanity and much more the finer virtues
of true Christianity. I believe that these
things account for the flotsam that strews
the shores of the troubled seas of thought
today, and disclose the undercurrents that
have wrought the havoc.
AVOIDING A MURAL
BLAChUUT
By Edward J. Urquhart, Far Eastern Correspondent
Then well may we ask: Can nations built
upon such institutions carry civilization
forward unto increased glory and new
heights? The answer 1s decidedly a nega-
tive one.
Thus spiritual darkness and political con-
fusion reign almost supreme today. Thus
dictators thrive and armies do their work
of destruction. Thus fear grips the very
souls of men.
Of course this question in its finality,
like most religious questions, narrows down
to the individual. Thus the lesson to each
of us is: Keep the light in your own heart.
Hold high the torch of true Christianity
right now. As the earth becomes darker,
your light will glow the brighter. Don't
put out the light! ‘Arise, shine; for thy light
is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen
upon thee. For, behold, darkness shall
cover the earth, and gross darkness the
people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee,
and His glory shall be seen upon thee.”
Isaiah 60:1, 2. That is a picture of the
present situation and our individual duty
to it.
The student of prophecy finds the stir-
ring time in which we live pictured over
and over again in the Scriptures. Here are
just a few of the many texts referring to
this time and its wretchedness; and pre-
senting the cause of it all.
“This know also, that in the last days
perilous times shall come. For men shall be
lovers of their own selves, covetous,
boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient
to parents, unthankful, unholy, without
natural affection, truce-breakers, false ac-
cusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of
those that are good, traitors, heady, high-
minded, lovers of pleasures more than
lovers of God; having a form of godliness,
but denying the power thereof: from such
turn away.” 2 Timothy 3: 1-5.
“Behold, the Lord maketh the earth
empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth
it upside down, and scattereth abroad the
inhabitants thereof. And it shall be, as
with the people, so with the priest; as with
the servant, so with his master; as with the
maid, so with her mistress; as with the
buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender,
so with the borrower; as with the taker of
usury, so with the giver of usury to him.
The land shall be utterly emptied, and
utterly spoiled: for the Lord hath spoken
this word. The earth mourneth and fadeth
away, the world languisheth and fadeth
away, the haughty people of the earth do
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