The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1935-05-21

sents the third of a series OF pa
.ners in which S. p. Werner o,
Brevard. discusses IN a compre
bensiye manner the teachings o.
Christianity as they are rela'e'
to social security.
Others may see more in Chris
t;anity than those three, and they
have that privilege, for one OF
tba finest facts about our common
faith is its magnificent eompre-
bpnsiyeness. Under its sheltering
arms scores, perhaps hundreds OF
varying interpretations spee,ai
+heor;es and hypothesis, side
G~bts and high-lights, isms and
osms sects, denominations, organ
cations, societies. boards, COM
mittees, and innumeraole shades
sSon;nion, all struggle and clam
or for recognition and adherentS'
This is no sign of inherent weak
ness anv more than the fact that
The light from billions of stars
combines to make the universal
cosmic ray that permeates tne
reaehes of uncharted space. Inere
Is one bond in all that truly pc
lieye. that they should have one
Lord, one Faith. one Baptism; re-
membering that while the letter
killeth, the spirit maketh ahve'
The comprehension OF races IN
our faith began when Jesus the
infant Jew received homage from
the wise men, probably from dis
tant China, Persia and India; 1t
continued when He found shelter
at the hands of a Greek dynasty
ruling over the Roman province
of Egypt; when He spoke the
polygot Aramaic of His country,
when the record of His life was
written in the greatest of human
tongues, the Greek; when He i'm
mortalized the Samaritan strang-
ers by his parable of the good
neighbors; when Asia gave Him
His birthplace, Europe proclaim
ed both His humanity and His di-
yinity, Africa and His life; while
a distant age was to see another
half of the world discovered by
one bearing the name Christ
hearing Dove; whose first act
was to set up the Cross on the
sand of San Salvador; and His
last words on earth were, accord
ins to the most scholarly of His
biographers, "And ye shall be my
witnesses unto the uttermost part
of the earth" Christianity is no
closed ethnic club, as Mr.. Hitler
and General Ludendorf, or their
Successors in due season are des-
tined to find out. :,
Some pessimistically inclined
commentators profess to fear that
Christianity may become so broad
that it may evaporate. Let them
not fear. 1t has both a narrow
and a broad side. 1t is like the
battle axe of Richard the Lion
Hearted; with a keen cutting
blade, and broad head, ready TO
sever the neck of error as well as
to catch the fiery darts of the
wicked. The metal which can
stand the most broadening out is
the purest gold. The greater the
surface of the diamond, the more
il reflects the light.
Finally, Christianity is on the
upward trend. Christian so-ealled
philosOphic cities profess to see
beginning of its dissolution. They
are among those for whom Christ
said that He came to give sight
10 the blind. They draw rash con-
illusions from a superficial glance
at recent developments Of science
and think they see in the theory
of evolution and the survival OF
the fitest the overturn OF the
Christian philosophy. But they do
not vet see that Jesus Christ HIM
self is the very flower Of all evo-
luton, the one great human mu-
tation suddenly bursting upon
deeadent age and throwing ms
Power into the task Of changing
MEN from a predatory to q s0clal
animal. If the survival OF the MT
test be a true biClogic law, then
Christ is the fittest. The suryiVal
valne of Christianity is prediSat-
ed upop its intrinsic merits. Inc
science of Paleontology shows US
that in long distant geologic ages
mighty british beasts roamed the
earth far stronger, larger, and
f;ereer than man; but we know OF
them now only by their bones.
They were survived by the hum
HE insect, by the sweet-yoieed
birds, by the big-brained and
oreat-souled offspring of beings
Who once may have had to hide
In caves and climb trees to escape
them but who inevitably saw them
disappear forever into the limbo
of forgotten organisms to be re-
discovered in due time by the very
men who had become masters of
earth and sea and air. Christian
ity is the prevailing religion of
these same men. | have here with
me a letter from Alfred Wallace
Russell, the co-announcer of the
theory of evolution with Charles
Darwin, written TO me a few
months before his death at the
great age of ninety years, exhib-
ting the sort Of noble interest in
a young man in a distant land
which sprang from the Christian
spirit which he exemplified all his
rife; and he spent the last thirC
of his life as q stout protagonis
OF spiritual values, and a battlel
for social progress in England
with as much zeal and intelhgen
vision as he used to discover tn
laws of God, No indeed; evolu
tion, rightly understood, does no
teach any decline to Christianity
il bows reverently at the sight Q
the work of a creator who coul