THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 21, 20 October 1941, Page 6

THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY

Comments—Reflections Intercession. We remember before Thee, O God, all chaplains and all who minister to the souls of those engaged. In warfare. Give them courage in danger, patience and endurance in weariness and difficulty. May they be wise and skilful ministers of Thy Word, and bearers of reproof, encouragement and comfort in ac. cordance with Thy will. We pray that by their lives no less than by their words they may commend the Gospel and lend men to find joy and strength in the knowledge of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

There was never anything by the wit of man so well devised, or so sure established, which in continuance of time hath not been corrupted.—Book of Common Prayer.

“John Habinyak, 26, was drafted into the army from New York City on June 23. On July 4he committed various acts of insubordination for which he has just 'been court-martialled. The report from the Court shows that whai. he did was to spit on the floor in the mess hall and ‘wilfully’ refuse to clean up, that he ‘wilfully’ refused to cleaii his incss kit, and so on. He was convicted on five counts and the sentence —hold your hats—is as follows: to be dishonourably discharged and to servo for 10 years and nine months in prison at hard labour.” —New York “Post.”

“Something like two-thirds of all New Yorkers, when asked, say that Hitler means to conquer the United States if he can., public- opinion polls show that Americans are sceptical about Russia’s chances of holding out. Most of us think that with Russia licked Britain would be lucky to survive. And that if Britain goes down we have a miserable chance of remaining a democratic island in a Fascist world. These are the things most of us think, but obviously they’re not the things we feel. For if they were New York couldn’t possibly be going so placidly about its business today.”--New York “Post.”

“In Britain we value representative government. It has the advantages which commended it centuries ago to St. Thomas Aquinas: ‘lt is good,’ he said, ‘that all should have a certain place in the government, because by that means peace is preserved and all approve of such a regime and support it.’ But the State is not the only expression of the social element in man’s nature, and, though important social reforms have followed extensions of the franchise, democracy will not be secured merely by the device of providing each man and woman with a political vote. Pope Leo looked to the State for reform and demanded vigorous State intervention to help the poor. We must expect more to be done by the State today than in an age of simpler ways of life and intercourse. But the State is not everything. Most certainly it is not the end of man’s existence, nor the origin of his rights. That is totalitarian theory.”—Father L. O’Shea, in a recent 8.8. C. talk.

‘‘Everybody today is talking about reconstruction. Our enemies have their schemes for a new order in Europe, maintained by their secret police, and we on our side talk of rebuilding London or England, or western civilization, and we make plans how this is to be done —five-year plans, or seven-year, or twenty-year, Which is all very well, but when I hear such talk, aud see the architects sharpening their pencils and the contractors getting out their estimates, and the statesmen marking out their spheres of influence, and everyone getting down, to the job, as it is called, a very famous text occurs to me: ‘Except the Lord build the house they labour in vain who build it.’ Beneath the poetic imagery of these words lies a hard scientific truth, namely, unless yon have a sound attitude of mind, a right psychology, you cannot construct or reconstruct anything that will endure. The text is true, not only for religious people, but for workers whatever their outlook, and it is significant that one of our historians, Dr. Arnold Toynbee, should have chosen it to preface his great study of the growth and decay of civilizations. We shall probably agree ou this point; surely the only sound foundation for a civilization 'S a sound state of mind.’’—Mr. E. M. Forster, the novelist, iu a recent address.

“After all, it is not what we eat, but what we digest that counts, aud digestibility depends not only on the physical property of the meal, but upon the anticipation and realization by the mind of the tastiness of what is partaken. The more eager your expectancy of nice tasty food the more gastric juice you will secrete in anticipation of what you are hoping to enjoy. If you give your dog a biscuit you may throw that biscuit ou the ground and let the dog get on with it, but there is an alternative method and that is to break the biscuit up into several portions ami then offer each portion to the dog to eat. There will be a vast difference in the effect on the dog oE those two methods. That has been proved by experiment, aud interesting! j’ enough by one of the most famous scientists, the late Professor Pavloff, of Russia. When you hand the portions of biscuit one by one to the dog, you produce in him a sense of eagerness and anticipatory pleasure, and if you compare ihe secretion of his digestive juices in those two instances you will find that in the latter instance the digestive juices that the dog will produce wili be several times greater Ilian if yon throw the biscuit to him and let him get on with it without any interest. If that is true of the dog, how much more true must it lx; of civilized man- Lord Dawson of Penn, the eminent physician, speaking in the House of Lords. A Wish. This only grant me, that my means may lie Too low for envy, for contempt too high. Some honour I would have Not from great deeds, but good alone; Th’ unknown are better than ill known ; Rumour can ope the grave. Acquaintance I would have, but when’t depends Not on the number, but the choice of friends. —Abraham Cowley.