Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1959-09-20
SPIRES OF THE SPIRIT
Nations That KnowGod
BY DIR. FREDERICK BROWN HARRIS
Chaplain Of the United States Senate

does not nave 70 take down
theological tones from the
dusty shelves Of oblivion for
q confederation Of that stu
pendous fact. Let us put
Barbara Ward. one Of our
keenest contemporary think
ers. modern to her fingertips,
upon the witness stand as we
hear her testify: zone Of the
great arguments for the I'LL
innate governance OF the
universe and hence for the
future hopes Of mankind Is
that pure aggression and I'M
diluted destructiveness are
entirely barren. When we
look at the long chronicle of
history and consider the in
justices. the hopes betrayed,
the sorrows and tortures, we
feel that the whole record is
a senseless tangle Of violence
and outrage and despair. Yet
evil does not survive. The
end Of a monster like Hitler
Is there to remind us that
beyond a certain point vio-
lence and evil are self -liqui-
dating"
Many centuries before our
goth century cult Of goddess
aggressors, the Assyrians.
with vast material might.
swept down on the most
highly civilized areas in the
Middle East. They destroyed
kingdoms and principalities.
butchered the people and
RACED the cities. even as later
aggressors did in Korea.
But they finally extinguished
themselves In a perpetual
cycle Of aggression. When
Genghis Khan and his god
less bloodthirsty Mongol rid
ers came to Bagdad. then at
the height Of its glory, they
burned the irreplaceable IL
brary Of priceless books and
left a pyramid Of half a mil
lion skulls in the main
square. But the amazing
postscript to all that is that
they left no stamp on history.
Their triumph was built on
sand. They left no culture,
because they had no faith
but In the sword of regi-
mented tyranny. There have
been wholly malignant en-
pireS, but by that very fact
they did not last. All history
joins In the hallelujah chorus.
Blessed is that nation whose
God Is the Lord" All other
ground is sinking sand.
In the long. checkered.
pathetic. sublime history of
the Hebrew, one fact con-
stantly emerges-his con-
seriousness Of God which he
bequeathed to the world and
to the ages. The greatest
periods Of the nation CO.
incide with the periods when
the sense of religion was
strongest among the people
the most terrible down.
falls and dispersions with the
loss Of that religious sense.
The strength and preserva-
ton Of America roots in the
fact that the molders Of her
life on these new shores
sought and erected a faith
pure shrine. In the crises Of
these changing times, DR..
Merrill. a prophet in the
babel Of New York, points to
the secret Of Americas might,
in q verse of his stirring
hymn:
Not for bdttleship and
fortress
Not for conQuests OF the
StDord
But for conquestS of the
spirit
Glue tDe thanks to Thee, o
Lord.
For the priceless Gift OF
freedom
For the home. the church,
the school
For the open door to
manhood
In a land the people rule.
The central fact in the
saga of American life is "the
Lord God Omnipotent reign
eth" AS q great modern
thinker has put 1t, More
crucial than work. more vital
than health. greater, higher,
deeper. and more paramount
than them all. is the fact Of
God. The power behind