IN our days men have become so materialistic in their outlook that God as the Ruler of the world is scarcely taken into account in what is happening in the world. The storm, the earthquake and the great catastrophes in nature, are, in an age intoxicated with the triumphs of science, attributed to the laws of nature and the titanic forces at work in the universe. If law is recognised, and even the most atheistic can scarcely shut their eyes to the mighty sweep of law in this marvellous universe, still there is little, or no recognition, in many quarters of the Lawgiver behind the law. God, however, is too great to be relegated by the decree of men to a merely secondary place in His universe. Now and again He speaks to men to whom He is practically non-existent in a terrifying way and they are confronted with forces and powers that mock their boasted triumphs and make sport of their greatest achievements. To the God-fearing these visitations of the Highest have a message and they reverently listen to the same. God is in His universe guiding and controlling these mighty upheavals in nature. The attitude of God’s people is reverently set forth in the Psalmist’s words: “Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken because He was wroth. There went up a smoke out of His nostrils and fire out of His mouth devoured; coals were kindled by it. He bowed the heavens also, and came down; and darkness was under His feet” (Ps. xviii. 7-9).
work in nature. This is an attitude of mind that meets us throughout the Bible—especially in the Psalms. It is an attitude that is well nigh now non-existent but if God’s moral creatures are ever to view these matters aright there must be a return to the reverent outlook presented to us by the Psalmist in the words: “Praise the Lord from the earth, ye dragons and all deeps; fire, and hail; snow, and vapours; stormy wind fulfilling His word” (Ps. exlviii. 7, 8). We are not living in a Masterless world wheeling through space at the mercy of forces and powers that are beyond the control of the Almighty and when the storm rages and the earthquake terrifies men neither are at work without a purpose. We have been led to say so much about this attitude of the modern mind to God’s relation to the mighty happenings in nature inasmuch as we see the same attitude to His over-ruling providence in the affairs of nations and individuals. “In Him we live and move and have our being” but for any practical purposes to millions in this land God is non-existent. All power (authority) in heaven and earth was committed to the Risen Lord but men proceed with their plans, call their conferences and make their laws as if no such announcement had ever been made. God, however, is jealous for the glory of His name and for the honour of His Son and if men are determined to ignore His existence He has means at His disposal to bring the vast machinery of government and commerce to a state that will make men hold their breath. The civilised nations of the world were heedlessly pursuing a course of utter disregard of God when He left them to their own counsels and immediately the world was deluged with blood—perhaps the most fearful carnage since man appeared on the face of the earth. That did not sober men for they were no sooner out of this furnace than they went down the hill faster than ever. They were to build up a better world, great schemes were planned, war was never to be heard of any more (the League of Nations was to make sure of that); councils and conferences were called and the crippled nations were to be delivered from the devastating effects of the titanic struggle which convulsed and shattered
the civilized world. All seemed to go well for a time, there was tremendous activity like the unnatural strength of the fevered patient that only too plainly tells to the skilled physician how strong the grip the fever has. Then came gradually signs that the body politic was not so sound as had been fondly believed and ominous sentences fell from the lips of keen-sighted business men telling us that we were fast heading to a dangerous gulf. These warnings were unheeded. The press, at least, that section of it which thinks it has a mandate to counsel the people of these islands because it numbers its readers by millions, kept on telling us that all was going well and that there were definite signs of a business revival as if the words of a local reporter could stay the mighty floods of the Mississippi as it broke the levees when he sent a dispatch saying that things were not really so bad as they looked.
But soon the unemployment figures pointed all too plainly that matters were far from bright in the business world. Our statesmen professed to have a cure and as trained politicians they went about finding a remedy in the usual way by extravagantly blaming the opposite political party in the State. Every politician had a sure remedy but it never materialised and if our statesmen have not yet reached the stage when they must admit they are baffled by the gravity of the crisis that has overtaken the nations we believe it will be generally admitted by the people of these islands that there is not a shadow of doubt in their minds that our statesmen are confronted with a condition of things before which the wisdom and power of man is helpless. The trouble was world wide and though it might be easy to trace the operation of economic laws yet it is well that we should recognise that behind these laws as behind the laws of nature there is a controlling Hand and the present state of things calls for the solemn recognition on our part that one of God’s heavy judgments has been poured out on the world in the presence of which our great men are helpless.
The excitement in financial circles over the announcement of President Hoover’s gesture of an emergency act allowing the
debtor nations to suspend payment of their war debts for a year shows all too plainly the fear that was gripping their hearts of the leading business men of this and other countries. This is not the place or the time to appraise President Hoover’s “gesture” but the excitement it caused and the manner in which it was received by the press shows all too plainly the dark shadows that were falling on the finances of the nations. Then came the hectic rushing from one capital to another of the German Chancellor with the news that this once flourishing Empire, one of the most powerful of modern times, was on the verge of bankruptcy. By such a calamity Germany would have done more damage to her enemies than she had done in the field of battle. Hurried meetings of the leading statesmen of Europe were called and Germany was given a prop to help her to weather the storm but her position is still precarious. Now, it may be said what is the purpose of a religious magazine calling attention to these financial upheavals? Our answer is that we recognise in them God’s voice speaking to the nations of the world. His Word makes it very plain that it is righteousness alone that exalteth a nation. But the nations intoxicated with the lust for material greatness pursued a course with their faces set towards this goal and carelessly ignored God’s Word. As in the case of Israel of old they would not hearken to His voice and would have none of Him so He gave them up to their heart’s lust; and they walked in their own counsels (Ps. lxxxi. 11). It is not a sign of more than ordinary spirituality of mind to ignore the voice of God when He is speaking loudly in mighty upheavals in nature and in the financial affairs of nations. The gold and silver are His and He can make it slip through the fingers of the greatest financiers of the world like sand if they purpose to get on without Him. This is pre-eminently seen in the Railway Companies of Great Britain. At their head the cleverest brains are at work devising means to make these great concerns pay. A policy was embarked on which ignored the laws of God and without a blush the organizers made it known publicly that they were out to
gather in the golden harvest for the shareholders that would inevitably follow from their Sabbath desecration policy. All looked promising as it was worked out on paper in the accountancy departments and in the directors’ boardrooms but these clever and somewhat autocratic gentlemen who are at the head of affairs thought they could deal with God as they might deal with one of their staff but, in this, they made the mistake of their lives. The gold is not flowing into their coffers as they anticipated and the outlook is anything but encouraging. The ‘bus companies instead of taking warning are openly and defiantly transgressing the laws of God and their time may be nearer at hand than they anticipate. God is not a God whom the potentates of this world can ignore with impunity. He may, at times, allow men to go an extraordinary length in defying Him but now and again He appears in terrible judgment. We have no desire to be alarmist but the present state of the business world is serious. Men are being paid off daily and thousands go to work with the fear that it will soon be their turn. All classes are affected, just as it was during the War its sorrows and anxieties reached almost every home in the land. Such an experience, one would have thought would have sobered the people like death but it was not so. And now He has brought upon us this great evil and what it may yet lead to no one can tell. Our leaders in the State and the great financiers are at their wits end in trying to find a solution to the tangled state of matters. It would be well, if not only the British people, but all the nations involved would come in the spirit of the words of Solomon: “Then what prayer or what supplication soever shall be made of any man, or of all thy people Israel, when everyone shall know his own sore and his own grief, and shall spread forth his hands in this house: then hear thou from heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and render unto every man according unto all his ways, whose heart Thou knowest (for Thou only knowest the hearts of the children of men); that they may fear Thee, to walk in Thy ways, so long as they live in the land which Thou gavest unto
our fathers” (II. Chron. viii. 29-31). Would that the day would dawn when we, as individuals and as a nation, would come to the Lord saying: “O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee. To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him” (Dan. ix. 8, 9).