Article October 29, 1938 Issue

Signs of the Times

Topic: The Upward Path

with contributions from N. Dan Braby, Roberta Power, W. E. Sangster, John B. Crowell

["The Pathfinder," in the Southern Weekly News, Brighton, Sussex, England]

Among the many great thinkers who have exercised a powerful influence over the course of Christian history, the name of St. Augustine occupies a high place. But Augustine was not always a saint. As a young man, he lived a life of gaiety and dissipation, and nearly broke his mother's heart. She was a woman of deep piety, but all her prayers seemed unavailing to win her wayward son from his evil ways. He himself records that his mind was darkened by error, and his heart led astray by passion. ...

He explains how he was discussing religious matters with one of his youthful friends, and the discussion turned upon the trustworthiness of the Christian Scriptures. He appears to have got the worst of the argument—at any rate, he rushed from the presence of his friend before the argument was concluded, and threw himself down under a fig tree. There, for a while, he remained sulking. But presently he grew calmer, and a sense of peace enveloped him. In the midst of this, it seemed to him that he heard a voice, as it were the voice of a little child, and the voice repeated several times the words, "Take and read."

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