[From the Brighouse Echo, Brighouse, Yorkshire, England]

All desolations, as Rev. William Harrop, preacher, has said, were man-made. When he, of late years, had heard pious folk talk about God sending the war for this and for that, he had shuddered at the thought; to him the very idea was blasphemous. God made beauty, goodness, order, truth, peace, and not war. Often during the weird days of the war, he had seemed to hear this tender lament in the terms of the day—O Europe, O Europe—Russia, France, Austria, Italy, England—"how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not: behold, your house is left unto you desolate." The early chapters of Genesis were to him (the preacher) not so much the history of the world as a new divine and abiding revelation of God; and the God revealed there was one who brought order out of choas, light out of darkness; who created not a desert, but a garden. The God revealed there, was ever the same. . . . The need of the day was for gardeners, not spoilers, men and women, who, in God's name, would do and be and dare to make the desert rejoice and blossom as the rose. The ancient prophet who gave so glowing a hope, gave also the way of its realization—a clean heart, a right spirit, a deep and unescapable sense of God. To garden the whole world was a big task, and he would have every man and woman cultivate the bit about them, and thus would beauty, truth, and peace grow.

[From the Vanguard-Telegram, Venice, Calif.]

Recognizing the trend of public thought; holding with the great leaders of men, politically as well as socially, that this trend is towards Religion; believing with the keenest thinkers in the world to-day that a clearer understanding of what Religion really is, is about to break upon the consciousness of the world, with the consequent awakening to its potency in the affairs of men, we have endeavored, and shall continue to endeavor, to awaken interest in Religion and the Force that activates the universe, including man. . . . Now it stands to reason that the nearer right one is the more successful he will be, and the more life and power one expresses the more godliness he displays, for God is the source of all power. No one who thinks will deny that God expresses infinite intelligence. It follows, then, that whatever of intelligence a man may express, expresses just that degree of godliness, or Godlikeness. And the more one expresses of intelligence, the nearer right he is and the more he makes sure his righteousness.

No, religion is not set aside for any one particular class of people. No man can escape it. It is for all, and you can no more escape it than you can escape living. . . . And in thinking of these things, know this, that the world is governed by Law, immutable, unchanging, eternal Law; that you are in God's hands whether you will it so or not.

["The Law of Love vs. Selfishness," from Bible Truth, Rutherford, N. J.]

There is but one antidote for selfishness; and that is the law of Love. We have seen that service and sacrifice which are not unselfish are not Christian. In like manner, there may be love which is not Christian, because it is not disinterested. . . . Disinterested love is divine. When that enters the heart, the "new life" enters. . . . When a service is rendered for love, with a distinct consciousness of that motive, the more difficult or disagreeable or costly the service or sacrifice, the fuller and more perfect is the expression of love, and the greater, therefore, is the satisfaction. Love loves a hard task. It never chafes; it gives all and longs for more to give. "Love thy neighbour as thyself" was an old commandment, as old as Deuteronomy. Jesus said to his disciples: "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you." He loved them enough to die for them. The Golden Rule may well be the law of a normal society. But society to-day is abnormal, it is diseased, it is sick with selfishness; and its one sufficient remedy is a sacrificial love.

[From National Opinion, London, England]

To remove the qualities of fear and mistrust, which in turn engender greed and hate, and which are the cause of every upheaval in the shape of war or strike that ever took place on the earth, is the first duty of those who are anxiously looking for a solution of the present difficulties. To do this, the first essential is for men of all classes to recognize Principle in their dealings with each other, and until they do this, no efforts, no matter how good they may appear on the surface, will ever do anything more than provide a temporary expedient, which can never be permanent in its harmonious results.

Without desiring to quote Scripture, when our Savior said to the woman at the well that the time cometh when neither on this mountain nor at Jerusalem shall ye worship the Father; the Father desires to be worshiped in spirit and in truth, I firmly believe that he was wishful to convey in the last sentence the fact that men could only worship God, or the Father, not by lip service, merely, but by acting from the highest they knew in all they did; in other words, acting from the standpoint of Principle in their dealings with each other. This is the true spirit of love, and this alone will remove the terrible condition of mistrust, want and woe, which is just now troubling our land, and which is only an effect. . . .

To get, therefore, the community to recognize Principle in their dealings with each other, is the first duty, I venture to think, of those who find a lasting solution for our economic, social, and labor problems as we have them to-day; then we shall have an awakened activity of the right sort, and strikes and wars, want and woe, will begin to disappear.

["On Breaking the Law," from the Living Church, Milwaukee, Wis.]

We hear much about law-breaking in these days, but actually no one ever breaks the law. You can no more break the law than you can destroy sunlight! We may disobey or disregard the law, but break the law, never. The fact is, the law breaks us. No man ever broke the Ten Commandments; no, nor any one of this religio-moral Decalogue. While millions have broken themselves to pieces on the first, the fourth, the sixth, the seventh, and eighth commandments in particular, this, the world's greatest moral code, still remains intact! We still have the Decalogue unimpaired, though centuries and ages have come and gone since they were first framed and codified. Live according to the laws of God and your better nature, and you need fear neither law nor man.

[From the Daily Eagle, Brooklyn, N. Y.]

Rev. C. Wallace Petty, pastor of the Mount Morris Baptist Church, in Manhattan, has said in part, that . . . Jesus of Nazareth was most perfectly poised. The most poised moment in his career was when he stood, calm and unafraid, in the presence of Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor. The poise of Jesus when before Pilate was the result of his having negated fear in his life.

Jesus did not fear that error could prevail over Truth. His universe was a real universe, and in the end Truth had to prevail. He had negated the fear that matter could prevail over Spirit. The prodigal manifestation of autocratic materialism as revealed in the Roman governor's power did not excite his soul. He knew that spiritual forces always undo the forces of mere matter. Jesus had negated the fear that death can prevail over Life. Life to him was an eternal unfolding. The secret of poise is found in negating the fear that error can prevail over Truth; that matter can prevail over Spirit, and that death can prevail over Life.

[From the Chicago Evening Post, Chicago, Ill.]

"Religion has no business in politics." We used to hear that statement frequently. We still hear it more often than the increasing intelligence of our times justifies. If religion has no business in politics, then the man who believes in God has no business being a citizen, he has no business voting, he has no business being a candidate for office or holding office. A man of religious faith must either take it into politics or deny it. The test of the sincerity of a man's religion may be found in the way he marks his ballot.

We are speaking now of religious faith in its broadest sense—the faith that makes for righteousness, whether it be Protestant, Catholic, or Jewish. We agree that politics is no sphere for the fighting of battles over religious differences, but we insist it is a sphere in which all men, of whatever creed, who believe in God, and so believe in a moral order, in decency, honesty, justice, and the supreme importance of spiritual values, must unite to win for their faith a victory over the opposing forces of evil.

[Rev. Charles P. Anderson, in the Sentinel, Milwaukee, Wis.]

What the world most needs to still the unrest and to do away with the misunderstanding is love of God in the hearts of men. Love is the greatest thing in this world. We need something to sweeten our lives and bring about a change in conditions. It is only when we are moved by some great force, such as the love of God, that we fit successfully into the purposes of the universe and discharge our obligations toward world citizenship. Thinking men are beginning to see this anew. The speaker pointed out that Roger Babson declares frankly that the greatest need of business to-day is religion. He also stated that President Harding declared that religion is essential to the nation's integrity.

[From the Harrison Observer, Harrison, N. Y.]

When a perplexing task confronts you, the very thought of which upsets your poise and seems to paralyze your mental and physical faculties, by all means keep cool. You cannot by any other manner master the situation. By mastering yourself, composing your tingling nerves and going at the work in an orderly fashion, you will find that however serious were your apprehensions, or your fears of getting through on time, there was really nothing to be flustered at, at all.

A moment of quiet, decisive thought at such times is usually all that is really needed, but the difficulty with most persons is the mustering of the moment to do their bidding. The average mind has an inclination to jump and dance in circles, and to become so agitated that anything approaching tranquillity appears to be entirely out of the question.