The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1921-06-09
By REV. D. J. OUILLAN

adequately explained.
1.-THE greatest moral depravity."
writes a great th~eologian, lis to be
found in intellectual sins, In rebel
lions of the mind against revealed d.
vine truth and established authority"
What, we may surely ask, is the de-
struction of purely material well-be-
ing, of the loss of trade, Of national
or social or intellectual pre-eminence
of the suffering consequent upon the
collapse of an entire civilization, In
comparison with spiritual losses, with
the sufferings that a soul which has
ignored or forgotten the true purpose
Of life is, by the law of God, destined
to endure in the other world? II Is
better, surely, as a great thinker has
said that an entire universe should
perish than that a single soul should
commit a moral sin and be lost. "The
soul of one virtuous man." wrote DIR.
Bentley, the great eighteenth century
scholar, lis of greater worth and ex-
cellency than the sun and all the plan
cts and all the stars OF the heavens"
Has not God a right to infict any de-
gree of suffering upon a world which
by it's actions, ignores and often even
deliberately denies the purpose for
which 1t was created and TO destroy
a dozen civilizations IL they are not
the means by which His designs and
purposes are fulfilled?
1t will, of course, be asserted that
the modern world is still Christian, is
still guided by Christian beliefs and
principles. But in what sense can
this be said to be true? There lis, OF
lcourse, that considerable body of be-
levers who stand unwaveringly on
the old foundations and the presence
of whom may well be believed 20 be
the one force that is arresting Gods
avenging hand. But outside and be-
yond these, is not the world guided
and controlled by purely pagan rules
and Christian veneer which is calcul-
ated to hide that paganism and de-
ceive the many? A single glance at
the history Of the immediate past, at
the war and its aims and methods, at
the sinister forces working in the
dark and dominating rulers and poll
t~icians, at our daily newspapers retail
ing the ~corruptions of the times, at
the mad and heartless pursuit Of ma
terial gain, is surely all sufficient to
convict the modern world OF its pag-
anism and to expose its apostary
from God. While mans transcenden-
tai destiny is admitted In theory, II Is
ignored and denied in practice, and
neither the promises OF heaven nor
the fear of hell are any longer eff
feetive in restraining the lawless do
ings of the modern man. We are thus
brought face to face with fundamen-
tai principles-with the most funda-
mental of all truths-the divinity OF
Jesus Christ.
We can, of course, understand and
explain the desperate efforts of mo-
dern systems of thought to undermine
this doctrine or to modify 1t by subtle
sophistry and reasoning. But are not
these efforts i'm the end the strongest
possible witnesses to the truth of the
doctrine which is assailed? The hui
mGn mind only attacks with vigor
what il instinctively feels to be a
strong opponent, and these vigorous
efforts would not be, did not the heart
instructed by God. bear its constant
and irresistible testimonf. Has any
System OF science or philosophy ever
iSuCCeeueu III WHOlly tIdCiu6 IL iIOH
the soul of mankind?
1t is, therefore, not to any one OF
the purely human and fallible schemes
lof reconstruction to which we have
Ito address ourselves, but to the full
recognition and better understanding
of this great historical spiritual truth
in all its bearings and implications,
Lie the world is really to be saved and
Iregenerated. 1t Is upon this basis
alone that a true reformation of u
national and social life can be attemp-
tied or effected. 1t was Christ Him
self who told us that without Him we
can do nothing" and this statement
|alone proclaims all schemes as worth
less In which He, the Incarnate Son
of God and the true Ruler Of the ma
%ltions, has not the first and all-con-
TROLLING place 1t is He alone who can
rightly reconstruct the modern world
and save 1t from its progressive de-
Icav and corruptfOn.