EVOLUTION AND REVOLUTION

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21646, 3 December 1935, Page 17

EVOLUTION AND REVOLUTION

TO THE EDITOR Of THB FHBBB. Sir,—Plato denies the possibility of virtue by mere human force. Your correspondent, "M-D.," in a letter under the heading "Evolution and Revolution," nebulously affirms that there are "evidences all around us of the quickening of the Spirit. . . . That man is going to lay hold of the Godgiven gift, and step into his heritage. Your correspondent probably means that the difference in the instincts between Man an<* animals is that Man only is subject to moral laws. I am afraid that the evidences are wanting that Man. generally, is about to rise to any virtue in. moral obedience. The moral law does not pertain to a thing, or to any substance in the chain of cause and effect, but only to frea intelligence, or self-active power. Its rule ia authority, not force, ft speaks to assent or choice, inviting action hut operating nothing apart from choice. It imposes obligations, leaving the Subject to obey or not, clear of any enforcement, save of conviction beforehand, and penalty afterward. , Mr M. E. Aubrey, general secretary of the Baptist Union, in an article in the "Christian World," of September 38, writing of the trumpets of war which we had hoped we would never hear again, says; "Does it not seem strange that in the councils of nations scarcely any mention is made of God." Mr Aubrey thinks it does not mean that those who are labouring in the cause of peace are not Christian men. "Thank Godl" he says, "we know that soma of them do base their hope in God: it. may be they are shy of revealing the deepest and loveliest things in their hearts and experiences before others, who see no beauty or worth in them" If Christian men form necessary ideas of truth, right, and justice, there will be something in their actions that reveals those ideas. It is morally incumbent on the followers of ,Christ that they bear witness for Him. j The evidences, which, are so manifest in the world to-day, show that we are suffering because of this lack of witness hi the League of Nations.

—Yours, etc., W. T. KINGSTON. Temuka, December 2, 1635.