Signs of the Times

[Bishop William T. Manning, as quoted in the New York Times, New York]

We were all thinking ... of the life and example of George Washington, who was a member of our church. His greatest characteristic was his loyalty to his convictions, his friends, his conscience, and his God. The gift of the spirit from above ... is given to help you to be loyal to your responsibilities and obligations.

We need this spirit of loyalty as citizens, and a spirit of thankfulness for our blessings as Americans. If all our people were loyal to Jesus Christ, that loyalty would carry all other loyalties with it—loyalties to the home, to the sacred bond of matrimony, and loyalty and trustworthiness in our obligations and responsibilities. May this disturbed time in which we are living strengthen us in a great spirit of loyalty as citizens, as Christian, and as members of Christ's church.

[Secretary of State, Cordell Hull, in the New York Herald-Tribune, New York]

The world waits. You may be sure that in most human hearts there is the steady murmur of prayer that life need not be yielded up in battle and that may be peace, at least in our time. ...

In affairs between nations the neighborliness obviously is less direct than between individuals in the local community. Its expression takes the form of just and fair dealings, without encroachment upon the rights of others, or oppression of the weak, or envy of the more fortunate. It contemplates liberal economic relations on the basis of mutual benefit, observance of law and respect for agreements, and reliance upon peaceful processes when controversies arise. ...

It is for the statesmen to continue their offorts to effect security by new agreements which will prove more durable than those that have been broken. This government would welcome that achievement. It would be like full light overcoming dense darkness. It is difficult to see how responsible governments can refrain from pushing compromise to its utmost limits to accomplish that result. ...

I cannot believe that the world has completely changed in mentality and desire since those great decades when the principles of liberty and democracy were extending their reign. I believe that this was a natural evolution of our civilization. I do not believe that with the great and growing facilities for education and for personal development people will permanently abandon their individual liberties and political rights. In my judgment it is not a basic defect of democratic institutions that has led to their decline in so many places, but rather the onset of weariness, fear, and indifference, which can and must be dispelled. These are the heritage of the last war. They must not be permitted to bring on another. ...

Satisfactory foreign policy must be able to count upon the qualities of patience, of sympathetic understanding, of steady poise, and of assured inner strength among the people. In the past crises of our history Americans have shown that they possess these qualities in full measure. I do not doubt that they are still present as a firm support. Against the walls of our democratic methods and institutions storms from elsewhere beat violently. Let us avoid flabbiness of spirit, weakness of body, grave dissent within our own numbers, and we shall have nothing to fear from these storms. We must keep before us the knowledge that democracy was builded on the soild qualities of hardihood, individual self-reliance, full willingness to put general welfare above personal interest in any great matter of national interest, forbearance in every direction, and abiding patriotism. They alone can furnish the necessary assurance that our foreign policy and our foreign relations will continue to bring peace with the whole world, and will not fail in that leadership appropriate to a country as great as ours.

[Former President Masaryk, as quoted in the Christian World, London, England]

"The chief point that I wish to emphasize," says former President Masaryk, as reported in "Defender of Democracy" by Emil Ludwig, "is that if I am a partaker in eternal existence, that fact must be my rule of conduct towards my fellow men. I take everybody to be what I am myself. I should call that religious democracy. ... To one who is eternal, eternity cannot be a matter of indifference. That is the basis of my co-operation with my fellow man. ...

"For me, religion is not a blind authoritarian belief, but a conviction as to the existence of God and the immortality of the individual, with hope arising therefrom, and courage through all the vicissitudes of life. ... I consider religion to be the most important and most profound social force which keeps men in organic union, not only with heaven but with their fellow men. Belief in God and immortality, in its manifold forms, supplements and governs faith in the things of this life. Religion sanctions ethics and morals and is therefore always political in some form or other.

"Democracy is dissolving and superseding the old theocracy, historically and actually. Democracy is directly founded on morality and humanity, because morality has become the most important expression of religion."

[Editorial in the Halifax Herald, Nova Scotia, Canada]

The forces of nature have been harnessed, as never before, to the service of man; and the effect of these brilliant discoveries on human life has been revolutionary. ...

The Christian shares in the general rejoicing of the marvelous achievements of science. ... But he believes that these discoveries, which lead to a wider mastery over the forces of nature, will prove a blessing or a curse according to the manner in which they are used, and that manner in which they are used will depend upon the character and aims of those who use them.

One of the greatest tasks before humanity today is to learn to use well the wonderful powers science has placed in its hands, and to prepare to use well the still more amazing powers which science will make available tomorrow. And the Christian message is that this can only be done by attention to the mortal and spiritual life. ...

The Christian view is that the weight of civilization in a scientific age can only be sustained by men and women who are trained, disciplined, and ennobled by communion with God.

[J. L. Newland, in the Frederick Leader, Oklahoma]

It is well to be loyal to friends, to your work, to your convictions—and it is important also to be loyal to yourself. That does not mean selfishness. It does not mean to be seeking your own and forgetting the welfare of others. Loyalty to self means loyalty to your talents, or your gifts—to your real self.

The person who neglects his talents cheats himself, without doing anybody else any good thereby. We are disloyal to ourselves when we fail to meet the highest standards we can conceive and understand. There is a heaven at hand for us, through the cultivation of our capacities, in contrast with the bitterness of neglected opportunities. The world has heard for many years the solemn threat that if it does not obey certain commandments it would be punished. The statement is true, in so far as the commandments are laws of life, which bring their own punishment every time they are violated. But obedience to them is more sincere and more joyful when it comes not through fear but through a desire for self-development, through an understanding that it is profitable and pleasant to do right.

It is not self-loyalty to do things which bring you sorrow, which lose your liberty, which impair your health, injure your standing among your neighbors, and make you less efficient. Thereby you deprive yourself of much satisfaction—the kind of satisfaction that comes through the esteem of your friends, the peace of a well-ordered life, the increasing power and prestige of one who thinks well and works faithfully.

Self-loyalty defends the sacred temple of your being, recognizes your reflection of the Most High, and demands that purity of thought and life which is the rightful prerogative of such presence.

[Dorothy Thompson, as quoted in the Lecture Recorder, London, England]

The ideal of freedom is not of no discipline but of self-discipline. It is therefore, in essence, the most rigorous of ideals. But is it in practice?

If other peoples are being taught to be hard and self-sacrificing for dictatorship, shall we not have to learn to be hard and self-sacrificing for liberty? One cannot meet the spirit of Nuremberg and of Adowa with the spirit of the country club. We have got to have something as good as Gettysburg and Valley Forge. We cannot preach freedom unless freedom also means life, work, and opportunities. The education of a free man is not the education of a cog, but enough cogs can steamroller the free men of the world into oblivion unless they learn not only how to be free but how to be united, unselfish, and wise.

[Rev. John F. Scott, as quoted in the Star News, Pasadena, California]

Today we know a universal language which all nations of people always understand—it is a Christian language, the language of love. As we read the simple story of the spread of the gospel, we realize the language of love has become the most powerful factor in winning souls to Christ. Love overleaps barriers of race and creed and prejudice and pride; it confounds ruthless government and defies gang privilege; it brings blessings and the peace of God which brightens and cheers the world. Love speaks clearly to Germans, Chinese, French, and all nations, and warms the hearts of those who hear it. Love harbors no resentment nor grouch, it plays fair with the other fellow and sees his point of view.

It was the language of love that the Master spoke when he taught among the hills and practiced deeds of kindness upon the Jew and the barbarian, the rich and the poor. ...

Dare we pray that the Holy Spirit may put such love in our lives? Are we willing for that kind of spirit to direct our motives? This might imbue us with a spirit of service and co-operation, soften our hearts, and make our dream of peace a reality.

[Evengelist Harry W. Davis, as quoted in the Press-Telegram, Long Beach, California]

An application of the Golden Rule would solve every social, commercial, industrial, and economic problem of our present day.