[From Life and Work, Edinburgh, Scotland]

When Zinzendorf (the leader of the Moravian Brotherhood in the eighteenth century) was still a schoolboy, he conceived the idea of founding a new religious order, to be called the Order of the Mustard Seed. Its members were not to retire to a monastery, but were to endeavor to live the Christian life among men in such a way as to extend Christ's kingdom by the quiet, continuous method of the mustard seed. The badge of the order was to be a gold ring, on the inner side of which were engraved St. Paul's words, "None of us liveth to himself." If the idea sounds priggish, we can save it from priggery by remembering that not any one group, but the whole Christian church (which means ourselves), ought to be the Order of the Mustard Seed.

In these days we are constantly being warned to beware of careless talk about the war, because we never know who may be listening. But Christians have a yet further responsibility: to beware of unchristian talk. It is so easy, under the fearful stress of war, to become unchristian in thought and feeling, and to begin to talk foolishly, bitterly, ungenerously; grumbling unnecessarily. . . .

We ought to have a right word to speak, for not one of us lives to himself alone. Jesus said, according to St. Matthew, that we are accountable for every idle word we speak; and according to an old manuscript of St. Matthew, he also said that we are accountable for every good word we do not speak. In these testing times we have a responsibility for helping, in our small and humble ways, to maintain and spread a Christian public opinion. The church of Christ is the Order of the Mustard Seed.

[Rev. James M. Maxon, in the Press Scimitar, Memphis, Tennessee]

People are asking what religion can do in the present world crisis. There are two views held on this matter.

Not a few deeply religious people believe religion should have nothing whatsoever to do with any world condition, whatever it be. They believe the real Christian withdraws from the "world," having as little contact with it as possible. This belief leads them to feel that religion can do nothing at all to help or influence present world conditions.

There are others, however, who believe religion is vitally concerned with and definitely related to life in this world. They believe that religion is a passion which inspires men and society to persevere in a certain way of life, and to obey the rules which define it. Without a conviction that this way of life is a thing of absolute value, and its rules must be obeyed at all costs, the rules become dead letters, and the way of life is a thing of the past.

There are, as we know, religions and religions. Some have been intolerant, persecuting, narrowing. They have been the occasion of wars and devastations, of cruelties and death. It is all-important that religion be the right kind of religion. . . .

This world situation . . . shows how selfish and self seeking we, as Christians, have been. What does the average man—yes, the average so-called Christian father—do to train his son in spiritual values? How many of them take the slightest interest in the efforts of those blessed women who toil Sunday after Sunday to give childhood the Christian ideal of life? . . . Food? Yes. Clothing? Yes. Social position? Yes. Everything? Yes, everything but the all-important thing, the Christian way of life. . . .

Just what does it mean to be a Christian? We answer, To be a Christian is to be a believer in, and follower of, Jesus. . . .

If life has shown us anything at all, it has shown us that the forces of integration are greater and stronger than the forces of disintegration, and the forces of construction are greater than the forces of destruction. We believe, therefore, with all the confidence of assured faith, that the victory will be ours.

[From the Age, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia]

That wise old Roman, Seneca, once wrote, "The property of a great mind is to be calm and undisturbed, and ever to despise injuries and misfortunes " . . . It is within the compass of the humblest to scale the heights, for, as saintly George Herbert said over three hundred years ago, "A peasant may believe as much as a great clerk and reach the highest stature." The conquest of the mind over public and private adversity and over the devastations and ghastly destructions of a world war can be attained if the individual be deeply grounded in a Christian theism which reminds him or her that in long last God cannot be defeated. . . . "We beseech you, brethren," cried St. Paul, "that ye study to be quiet." But how? By reading things of beauty and happiness, replies a wise observer of his kind. . . . Faith is a victory which shall restore to humanity a fresh chance to realize the purposes of the God revealed at Bethlehem and on Calvary, strengthened and balanced by the reading of great literature of inspiration and mental healing, and helped by occasional periods of quiet meditation, may go far to give to many the blessing of the calm mind. It is as true now as in the time of the prophet Isaiah: "In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength."

[Janet Beardsley, in the Watkins Express, Watkins Glen, New York]

The Ten Commandments are ever the same, God is the same. . . . Only in outward, wordly things has there been any change. If God, too, and God's rules must be changed to fit our changing standards, wherein is the Eternal?

No, God is the same—yesterday, today, and forever. God's promises are as real today as they were hundreds of years ago, yes, thousands of years ago. . . .

Only the true bread of Life can satisfy. God's truths do not need to be put into new and more attractive forms to make them more inviting. Nothing we can say or do can add to or detract from the sheer beauty of the Gospel. . . .

I have a daily, hourly need that only the bread of Life can satisfy.

[From the Journal-Herald, Dayton, Ohio]

Back in the days when Jesus of Nazareth was instructing men in the laws which would make of this earth a heaven, he told his followers that they should love God. This, probably, they believed would be a fairly easy thing to do. He told them, too, that it was equally necessary for them to love their fellow men. This must have seemed an incalculably more difficult law to obey.

But there are ways of approach toward the obeying of this difficult command, and one of the most effective is practicing everyday kindliness, an everyday appreciation, a "thank you" to the waitress because she has refilled the water glass, a word of appreciation to the housewife because the meal she has prepared is a good meal.

There is thanks to be given the neighbor who keeps his lawn neat and works to make his garden beautiful. There is thanks to be given those who have planted trees along the streets, inaudibly voiced thanks, these, because the planters of fine old trees are no longer present, but thanks welling out along with prayers of praise to make the realm of thought lovelier.

What a pleasant world it would be, were the child told of his good points frequently! How glorious a world it would be if every one of us watched his opportunity to tell his fellow man that this work is good, and that, excellent! We should be cheerful givers, and the Scriptures say that "God loveth a cheerful giver." In the meantime we should be learning to love our fellow men.

[Rev. Thomas M. Palmer, in the Beacon, Wichita, Kansas]

Character naturally comes from those things which occupy our thought and constitute the object of our aspirations. If desires begin and end with self, then they are low and sordid. self-sacrifice is ennobling, it calls into action the highest moral effort.

Consciousness of devotion to the highest and purest . . . calls forth the exalted emotions and contributes to the highest nobility of soul. Truth and goodness are immortal.

[P. H. B. Lyon, Headmaster of Rugby School, as quoted in the Rugby (Warwickshire, England) Advertiser]

Patriotism will take us some of the way, but only some of the way. Why should the forces of evil have this driving force while the forces of good are confused and uncertain?

Patriotism is not enough. Patriotism may even bring us to the winning of the war, but there is the peace to win beyond that, and we shall not do that with patriotism alone. It is not enough to trust in our code, in the public school spirit, in our good form, in tepid convictions. We need something deeper and something stronger.

Where are we going to find it except in Christ? How is the nation going to find it if it does not become religious in a far wider and deeper sense than it is today?

[Governor Dickinson, of Michigan, as quoted in the Saginaw (Michigan) News]

To talk with God is the privilege of the poor as well as the rich, the weak with the strong, the sinners and the blessed. And by every token of experience and testimony, He is receptive to each according to His own lights of justice and individual need.

There are not enough personal relationships with God these days, and that is one reason why chaos threatens to engulf humanity.

God is Friend as well as Deity, but people have neglected to cultivate His friendship.

Redressment of this omission would go a long way toward promoting the kind of world order almost everybody wants.

[From the Oregon Farmer, Portland, Oregon]

The sentiment in that old poem, "Truth crushed to earth shall rise again," is beautiful and inspiring, not to say encouraging. But it contains a fundamental error. Truth never was and never will be crushed to earth. You and I may ignore or try to evade truth and think that thereby we crush it. But we are merely crushing ourselves. Truth continues to function from everlasting unto everlasting, untouched and unretarded in its operations.