Evening star., 1940-08-03

ly to long perspective and to read
the history books. And the Bible.
For the continuing factor is human
life. Nations may lose their iden-
tity; great cities may be wiped out;
the lamps of civilization may grow
dim, or go out; and undreamed-of
suffering may increase in the world.
Still men and women will live on.
How they will live, in their own
immortal spirits, will determine the
destiny of the worlds long tomor-
row. The preparedness that counts
most in this day of decisions is the
preparedness of human hearts. Peo-
pie must make their own personali-
ties ready for anything.
AS we seek to take a long, long
look at our day, as part OF the
worlds timeless procession, we find
ourselves turned, by the assigned
Sunday school lesson, to an an
cient bit of counsel which has sur
vived the centuries-the familiar
First Psalm; which is poem de-
scribing the good life and the evil
life. This is a presentation of per-
petual truth, which cannot be
changed by any changing fashions.
It holds good in war and in peace,
in prosperity and in poverty. There
are some persons who are blessed" ,"
or happy; and there are some
who are doomed to misery, all de-
pendent upon the life they live and
the ideals they pursue. John Oxen
ham caught the main idea in his
familiar poem:
"To every man there openeth
A Way, and Ways, and Way,
And the High Soul climbs the High
way
And the Low Soul gropes the Low,
And in between, on the misty flats,
The rest drift to and fro.
But to every man there openeth
A High Way and Low,
And every man decideth
The Way his soul shall CO."
More urgent than the buying Of
a gas-mask, or rifle, Is a mans
determination of "the Way his soul
shall 60" What goes on inside OF
person is always more important
than anything that happens outside
of him. The final armament Of
victory is the armed soul.
The Essence Of Democracy.
Strange interpretations of democ-
racy are abroad, in these days when
democracy is fighting for its very
existence. Is there any one simple
definition of democracy that can
serve our time? I think so. De-
mocracy requires that freedom Of
personality prevail. That is democ-
racy-every man at liberty to ex-
press his own personality, in
thought, in speech, in act; with
none to hinder.
The Bibles conception of the good
life is one that chooses freedom and
righteousness and God. Scripture
exalts personality by every means.
The sacredness and elevation OF the
individual spirit is stamped upon 1t
by it's capacity for free choice. God
did not set lot of automatons upon
the earth; but liberated spirits, with
the power to accept or reject even
their Creator Himself. We have
only to look about us on the present
scene to know that men, as the
price of the divinity within them,
are at liberty to walk in the counsel
of the wicked, to stand in the way
of sinners, and to sit in the seat OF
the scornful. This column has often
repeated that it is the divine right
of every man to 60 to hell. Such Is
the perilous privilege of person.
ality.
Bricks for the States Structure.
Marshal Petain of France pointed
out in a pathetic address, after ad-
mitting the defeat of his nation,
that it was the quality OF states
manship and of the peoples heed