The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1922-11-16
By REV. d. J. QUILL.AN

tempt this last with no regard for the
previous demands OF proportion may
be the policy OF statecraft. It Is not
the plan Of religion.
Let me ask you further to note that
the proportions and values which
other factors seek to establish are OF
their own thought and devising. They
consequently change as varying in
terests require. They receive new in
terpretations as new emergencies
arise. And IL they stand in the way
of individual desire OF national ambi-
ton, they may be altogether discarded.
Then it Is said that evolution has
swept them away and that it is vain
to insist on what ought to be In the
presence OF facts as they are.
Religion, on the contrary, teaches
that there is a standard. eternal and
supreme. to which all others must be
referred for final ~evaluation. You and
I may differ as TO the meaning OF jus
tice and right, and either of us may
contend for his view az against all
other opinions. What determines the
value Of each and its title to recogni-
ton is not any process OF natural Sc
lection, not the outcome of a struggle
for existence among rival conceptions
or theories, but rather the relation
which they severally bear to the STAN
dard established by the wisdom OF
God and upheld by His power.
In any assembly or those who are
the spokesman of sovereign states, the
exclusion OF religion and It's standards
has a two-fold significance. II means,
In the first place, that each nation,
acknowledging no higher tribunal to
which its appeal can be taken. con-
tends for what IL claims as It's W In
virtue OF its supremacy. 1t means.
again, that in the Judgment of such
an assembly an appeal to the justice
OF God would find no support in the
hearts of the people IN whose behalf
the assembly is supposed to deiiber-
ate.
Thus there is left but one mode OF
settlement-that which the nations,
from their latest experience, have
| come to dread and condemn. Thus,
! too, the right to live must finally de-
pend on the power to slay. Whether
| by intimidation or threat OF beiiiger-
ent act, physical force regains Its
sway as the arbiter of u lot and
destiny.
So far and SO long as this conciu-
sion is accepted, religion will get no
place in reconstruction-for the obvi-
Gus reason that nothing will be re-
constructed. But men are not all Ut
one mind as regards the arbitration
OF force. There are those who still
hope and protest that some other
means of adjustment shall be found.
Religion, they say. Is excellent in
theory. II ideals are fair and its pro-
misses attractive. But where shall we
find IL actually and visibly in opera
ton? To gay nothing OF those who
have cast IL away. what evidence OF
it's power is shown by those who re-
tain and profess It?
To this, of course, we may answer
that religion of the genuine sort Ia
not given to os~tentation. 1t Is never
fond Of parade. 1t prefers to go its
way quietly, asking no praise of men,
but striving for Gods benediction.
How many there are who live their
religion in this unobstructive fashion,
none can tell-many more, quite sure
ly, than the world at large would sus-
pect.
For such men and women, let us be
thankful. But let no n imagine that
religion Is to hold aloof from public
life. Under pretext Of making It q
purely private and personal concern
men are sometimes led into the error
OF excluding not only its form and
profession but also its influence from
business and politics and ordinary
avocations. 1t Is this same error thai
divorce religion from education and
then bewails the lowering of the NOR
al sense and the lack Of civic virtue
I'm those whom the school prepares
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