THE BOOK OF LIGHT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23351, 17 November 1937, Page 20

THE BOOK OF LIGHT

"The lights are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime." So spoke Sir Edward Grey on the night of August 3, 1914, and who of us can deny that his prophecy has been fulfilled? writes the Rev. John A. Patten, literary superintendent of the British and Foreign Bible Society, in the Master-Light. The lamp of international friendship was quenched when the mighty armies of Europe marched to battle, and, although it is now nearly 19 years since the war ended, it lias not been relit. . . . Without dwelling on the lamps of happiness put out in millions of homes through the losses of the war. we may note that the lamp of moral and religious idealism was also quenched in those years of bloodshed. War is the enemy of goodness and religion. The lamps must be relit. Never let us surrender to the idea that all is lost, pleads Mr Patten. But great effort will be needed. We shall not slide out of darkness into the light; we must step into the light. "Lighten our darkness, O Lord," is the prayer of Christian people everywhere, and the world-wide circulation of the Word of God is part of the answer to that prayer. Whether we think of the Bible itself—its contents, its spirit, its teaching—or the influence that has streamed from it, it is not merely a Book of Light, but the Book of Light.