Evening star., 1940-05-11

torious. It takes faith and knowl-
edge OF Scripture to sustain ono
during such dark days.
There are seers, like Edwin Mark.
ham, who passed from US . few
weeks ago. who could cry, In darkest
days: ,.
Take heart, o soul Of sorrow, and
be strong! ..--
There is One greater than the
whole worlds wrong.
mo truth so low but He will give
1t crown.
No wrong so high but He will hurl
it down."
. The more familiar lines of James
Russell Lowell sound the same note:
Truth forever on the scaffold,
Wrong forever on the throne
Yet that scaffold sways the future,
and behind the dim unknown,
Standeth God within the shadow,
keeping watch above His
own"
To Habakkuk came the same con-
viction, of the ultimate triumph of
Gods holy will. He stood upon his
watchtower and was hidden to write
plainly the great reinsurance of
faith: that though 1t tarry, wait for
it; because it will surely come, it will
not delay"
Everybody knows the saying, that
"he who runs may read" which is q
clear inversion Of the word given
unto Habakkuk: Write the vision,
and make it plain upon tablets, that
he may run that readeth It," That
Is to say, the writing is to be so
plain that whosoever reads 1t will
run with its tidings. Not legibinty.
but motivity is the idea. The vision
Is not for the casual glance of the
swift passerby; 1t is a message
which sets every reader to running.
Its truth is so clear that it compels
action.
There we have the rule for all
great writing: Make it plain, clear,
compelling, beyond any misunder-
standing. Literature is not a mere
collection of beautiful words and
phrases, that win admiration for
themselves. Great literature is that
which sets the reader to running;
starts great impulses and purposes.
In the opening sentences of his
prophecy, Habakkuk echoes the
writer mans sense Of burden over
that which he has seen and must
impart. To be watchman upon the
walls Of ones times; to be brood
ing night and day upon life and its
meanings, to catch the common sig
nificance of far-removed and SEEM
ingly unrelated phenomena. to find
simple, strong and arresting words
in which to express the message that
has been given-this is the writer
prophets burden. A multitude Of
men and women are writing upon
our times, even as Habakkuk wrote
upon his times. How may we make
our vision so plain in print that it
will set mems feet speeding with
the tidings Of God and righteous
ness and peace?
Habakkuk got his message across
at last, in the majestic strophes Of
great psalm Of victory. He saw the
triumphs of God over all His foes.
Jehovah the Lord is my strength"
Ultimately, God wins all wars. The
daily prayer of millions-"Thy king
dom come, Thy will be done"-is
steadily being answered, In ways be-
yond human ken.
We cannot easily see this, and so,
like this old Hebrew prophet, we
struggle with sincere questionings. A
modern poet declares:
There's more faith In honest doubt
Than in half your creeds."
BY our short views, judging only
from the evidence Of today and the
near-at-hand. the Almighty seems
to be on the losing side. Many-faced,
hydra a-headed evil appears to have
the right of way in our time.
But hold on; the evidence is not
all in. 1t must be accumulated from
q Wide expanse of time and space.
Factors not Immediately obvious
must be taken into account. God is
not a local retail merchant, whose
accounts can be cast up by an ac-
countant in an hour. His is whole.
sale business, extending over q wide
area Of time and place, the workings
Of which are not easily perceived.
As the Italian proverb says, God
does not pay every Saturday. but He
always pays" His ways are not
our ways. and His word bids us wait
on the Lord" Ability to wait In con-
fidence, and to trust when we cannot
see. is the faith that overcomes the
world. Habbakkuk saw evil VIC
torious for time, but, by faith, he
also saw God working His purposes
out in the longer stretch OF time
that He needs for His vast designs.
The Sunday school lesson for
May IL Is, "Habakkuk Fights
Through Doubt to Faith."-
uah~ kkrsk