Evening star., 1946-02-01
Letters to The Star
MIR. Berryman's Sunday Cartoon
Inspires a Parable Sermon


Inspires Parable Sermon
To the Editor of The Star:
'Why don't you mind your own busi-
ness?" says the Man in the Moon to the
Earth In G. K. Berrymans recent car
toon. This has started train OF
thought.
Once upon time the Earth was
beautiful, when the morning stars sang
together, and all the sons of God shout
ed for joy" (Job xxxviiD. Life was primi-
tive, uncloyed, purposeful. intensely ac-
tive, interesting. Men had ideas, and
modelled after them with deft and
agile fingers the things that met their
simple needs-objects of utility, but
bearing certain impress of grace and
beauty. AS they worked, putting into
their work an unhurried and salts
fed affection, they had time to enjoy
the beauty about them-the rhythm
of nature, and its harmony, the song
of birds, the myriad pictures in clouds,
the noiseless and unobtrusive growth
OF living things, the wondrous things
in space, the Kaleidoscope interplay of
light and shade and color. Through
the wonders of the seen they recognized
the skill of the Hand of the Unseen,
and reverenced this as God
Then one came along and said, "You
are wasting your good time making
those things with your hands. I have
a machine that will make them faster,
and many more of them, and just as
good, and you can make more money
and make it faster, and save yourself
and your labor" So the machine began
to make money for the craftsman, and
he could not love the creature of the
mechanism as he had loved the things
that slowly grew between his hands.
In losing the love of his work, he lost
the love of work for works sake, and
the feel of the JOY that others would
have from his work; and so he began to
lose his sense of service, and in pro-
portion, his love for his fellow man,
and more and more the machine alb
sorbed his place, and the output Of the
machine inspired competition-working
to beat time and beat the fellow man
and lust for gain. And as this lust
Tor gain increased. the machine de-
manded more and more material, and
to feed the machine countries began
to covet resources which neighbor coun-
tries had, and men forgot the JOY they
had in serving. and sought to take by
force their neighbors' goods; and thence
came war. (See James, iv.1-3)
How Men Made Disaster.
We need not tell the tale of war.
or draw the picture. 1t is all too plain,
and craven on our minds, and traced
upon the screen Of dreams. Men made
for war monster machines of automatic
intelligence which gradually grew, step
by step, out of the useful and beneficent
mechanisms of the early days. And
these monsters have burned, and
crushed, and destroyed and killed, and
have gouged out of the Earth's face
great scars, and made it sore, and des-
olate, and ugly. And men whom the
machine was made to bless have felt it
curse, and now they ask: How can
we stop this awful thing?", and Where
is God?" Behold, the Lords hand is
not shortened, that it cannot save;
neither his ear heavy, that it cannot
hear; but your iniquities have sepa-
rated between you and your God, and
your sins have hid his face from YOU.
that he will not hear" isaiah, lix.1-2).
Earth was a miracle of abundance,
of resource, of provision for every need,
and want, and comfort of mankind.
Thou madest him to have dominion
over the works of thy hands; Thou
hast put all things under his feet"
Cps, viii6). But men have misinterpreted
dominion. They have mistaken might
for right. They have laid Earth waste,
blotted out its landscapes, turned its
gardens into deserts, plundered and
wasted its treasures, killed its children,
dyed its soil in brothers blood. They
have utterly forgotten that the God
who gives dominion is God of Love.
And now, with the smoke of battle
scarcely settled, with creeping cold and
sinking hunger stalking their millions
round the globe, with the sobs Of home
less creatures echoing in our ears. we
stand on the jagged pinnacles of ruined
Earth and reach up into space for
other worlds to conquer. We are ac-
quiring curious and neighborly in
terest in other planets, sort of back
fence gossipy mood. While we are theo-
rizing and flying kites to the stars, we
find ourselves more pleasantly engaged
than in getting down on hands and
knees and scrubbing up Earth's stained
and dirty face. Why not set our terres-
trial house in order first2 Have we not
plenty to do?
When we have begun to win some
degree Of spiritual dominion, through
righting Earth's wrongs, purging its
wounds, pouring the balm, and heal
ing its scars, we shall not need recon-
verted instruments of war to help us
conquer space. When Love sheaths the
sword of our dominion, Love will also
steer our upward flight, and power it,
and we shall look out from new worlds
where space and time are lost in Light.
So, headstrong Earth, why not mind
your own business-first? You have
plenty to do, with your feet on the
ground! VERA E. ADAMS.
Lincoln on Labor
To the Editor of The Star: