The Columbia evening Missourian., 1922-04-26
SEES COMING
OF SPIRITUAL
RENAISSANCE
0COnfiHued from page One)

interested public service. Men gave and
fought for peoples they had never seen.
tor people whose names they could not
even pronounce Men felt not 50 much
that They We're al war as that they were
IN 4 crusade. Ii was a time of political
Pentecost. The ghost Of Machiavelli
walked with sickening frequency through
she corridors of certain foreign Offices.
and swaggered with tragic success
through lh, council rooms of Versailles.
but for the common people the real
stakes nl the war were certain basic
moraliiirS. upon the yindicaiion Of which
The integrity "i civilization itself hinged
the principle al right a. the basis Of all
human association. the applicability Of
the moral Law 10 public affairs. aud
guaranty that the weak might move
amidst the strong wrapped in the con
.ciousness of common chiyalry of man
kind This i why for 4 few fleeing
months the moral leadership Of world af.
fairs rested in Washington For. what
ever NAV be- said in criticism of Wood
Tow Wilson's political technique. even his
most hystcrical dr,raciors. in their in
frrmirienf moments Of honesty. must ad-
nit that he brought 10 Eis task a white
passion "i s,atrcraft' that. for season,
turned the sinister game of diplomacy
into an honest search for the Holy Grail
aud flung To craftsmanship a challenge
that will haunt the council tables oi
world politics for the next hundred years
On all hands il was predicted that this
most ruthless war of history would rc-
eult in the spiritual regeneration of
Western civilization. But this coIos- !
sll paradox was not Ia come true. After /
Versailles the sincere search for a new
world dcgcnrraied into 4 sordid scramble |
for concessions. dcril-iakc the hind :
most j"ckeying for position. a markedly !
barbarir struggle, for existence. with lii /
tie thought Of the quality of the exist
encc.
The moral slump since the war has
been - serious that men are again spec
nlaiing upon the probable downfall Of
Western civilization. For instance. Dean
lnec. who has repeatedly suggested that
We are perhaps entering another Dark
Ages. closes one Of his essays BY saving.
Il have made il clear | suppose. that |
do not consider myself specially fortu-
nate in having been born in 1860, and
that ! view with great anxiety the jour
ncy through life that my children must
make" could consume the entire morn
ing in quoting similar assertions from the
new literature of despair that has been
written since the war.
PROPHECY TO Re FULFILLED
Now. of one thing We are certain
nothing can prevent Western civilization
from entering the long winter" of MIR.
Saniayana's prophecy save a deep-going
spiritual renaissance. vast process ot
moral renewal sweeping through the
world like another Reformation. Only
il must be a more fundamental Rcfor-
nation.
Personally. | believe that We are in
the morning hours Of such Renaissance.
That is. | believe that the raw materials
for such Renaissance are lying all
about us throughout Western ciyiliza-
ton. waiting only for some truly great
spiritual leader TO bring them together
and TO touch them into life.
Now let me state what are not the
grounds of this belief First, | am not
reviving the naive notion that the war
simulated in the soldiers a spirituality
hat will be the basis of worldwide re-
igious revival | do not believe that
war ever ministers to spirituality, save
n the most fleeing manner. And much
# the alleged spirituality of the soldiers
Inder fire was a mere scurrying 10 cover
Inder the lash Of fear, an attempt TO
Isc God as a gas-mask.
Second. do not base my hope on the
new mysticism that has swept the world
n .he wake of war. do not believe that
he present popularity Of mediums and