The plight of mankind, the condition and circumstances under
which we live and labor are truly disheartening, and the darkness of
prejudice and ill-will enough to chill the stoutest heart. Disillusion
and dismay are invading the hearts of peoples and nations, and the
hope and vision of a united and regenerated humanity is growing
dimmer and dimmer every day. Time-honored institutions, cherished
ideals, and sacred traditions are suffering in these days of
bewildering change, from the effects of the gravest onslaught, and
the precious fruit of centuries of patient and earnest labor is faced
with peril. Passions, supposed to have been curbed and subdued, are
now burning fiercer than ever before, and the voice of peace and
good-will seems drowned amid unceasing convulsions and turmoil.
What, let us ask ourselves, should be our attitude as we stand under
the all-seeing eye of our vigilant Master, gazing at a sad spectacle
so utterly remote from the spirit which He breathed into the world?
Are we to follow in the wake of the wayward and the despairing?
Are we to allow our vision of so unique, so enduring, so precious
a Cause to be clouded by the stain and dust of worldly happenings,
which, no matter how glittering and far-reaching in their immediate
effects, are but the fleeting shadows of an imperfect world? Are
we to be carried away by the flood of hollow and conflicting ideas,
or are we to stand, unsubdued and unblemished, upon the everlasting
rock of God’s Divine Instructions? Shall we not equip ourselves
with a clear and full understanding of their purpose and implications
for the age we live in, and with an unconquerable resolve arise to
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utilize them, intelligently and with scrupulous fidelity, for the enlightenment
and the promotion of the good of all mankind?
