a
gy
International Newsreel
New York police officials burning a million dollars’ worth of narcotic
drugs, the cause and accompaniment of much of the crime of our times
Whence All "| his LLawlessness?
Our great cities are at last thoroughly aroused over the tidal wave of crime, and are taking
drastic steps to call a halt on the gunmen who hold them up and the grafters who pilfer
their treasuries. It will be well to go far enough back to quell the wind that raised the wave.
VERY one who cares about his country,
(P| and seriously contemplates the crime condi-
tions and the flagrant wantonness of con-
duct so prevalent in the world and es-
pecially in this country, must recognize
that there is great need of a careful analysis
of the problem and an immediate remedial measure
designed to restore respect for statute law, regard
for conscience, and reverence for the moral and
spiritual laws of God. Surely the time has come for
some prophet of thunder to sound forth his warnings
in no uncertain terms; for the confusions and the
perils of our day prophesy darkly, not only for
American ideals, but for the ideals of all righteous-
ness. Unless there is a rebuilding of the dikes that
have gone down before the swelling tide of crime
and vice, our civilization is confessedly on a very
precarious foundation.
When we search for the sources of this problem,
we find the primary causes residing in man himself —
causes for crime are as old as the human race.
Killing, stealing, and other crimes result from selfish-
ness not yet brought under control. Because of sin,
there is in man a sheaf of tendencies that break out
in various forms of misbehavior, unless the individual
has undergone a divine transformation that brings
his life henceforth under the yoke of obedience to a
higher law, even the law of God.
I'he world has gone wrong because it has been led
PAGE SIX
‘By Louis K. Dickson
to disrespect the divine law. One of the most quoted
— and also misquoted — proverbs of wise King
Solomon says, ‘‘ Where there is no vision, the people
cast off restraint.” Proverbs 29:18, A. R. V. What
is the vision to which he refers and wkich has ceased
before men? The rest of the text explains: “Where
there is no vision, the people cast off restraint; but
he that keepeth the law, happy is he.” The vision,
then, is the authority of the law, and the conclusion
of the wise man is that when the law of God is
taken away from before men’s eyes and hearts,
there is a certain casting off of restraint that follows.
Uncontrollable barbarian instincts, the backwash
of the war, injustice in industrial conditions, the
lack of, or the breaking down of, home authority
and training, may be presented as immediate and
clear-cut causes for the present wave of lawlessness;
but these are only secondary to the primary cause,
which is fundamental; namely, the disregard for the
law of God.
Disregard for the law of God by both the clergy
and the laity has preceded present-day lawlessness
and has resulted therein. Following this disregard
and disrespect for the authority of God and its
resulting lawlessness, there have come the most
gigantic assaults in the world’s history upon the
word of God. Tradition and fiction have taken the
THE WATCHMAN MAGAZINE