FOR THE QUIET HOUR

Stratford Evening Post, Issue 80, 30 June 1928, Page 7

FOR THE QUIET HOUR

SOME SUNDAY HEADING. THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS IDEAS. (By J.L.A.K.) It is less than forty years ago since Mr Dunlop invented the pneumatic tyre for bicycles, and it almost staggers the imagination to consider how fruitful that one idea has been in advancing the cause of civilisation;. This tyre made it possible for man to travel in comfort over Macadamised roads at a high rate of speed, and engineers immediately turned their attention to the development of an engine which would give man the full benefit of the original invention. Great improvements were accomplished in the internal-combustion engine and the motor car appeared as a result. In rapid- sequence came the motor boat, the submarine and the flying machine; and, with these, the whole face of our civilisation has been changed in a generation. Could it have been imagined that, when it was first put upon the nSlirket, this little rubber tube would have produced such wonderful results in meeting the need for rapid transit through the world! SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT. It is perhaps more interesting to trace the development Of spiritual ideas. in doing so, it must be re-

memhered that uo such ideas could gain 'permanence in the acceptance ef man, unless they had supplied a need; the pioneers in spiritual adventure have never trifled with the great issues of life. The first great thought that emerged upon the con-* sciousness of man was, as we have seen, the realisation that he belonged to someone else. Someone else had created him, conditioned him and squired service from him. The Temptation of Eden clearly teaches that man came to understand that this service consisted in obedience to a moral law. He had already realised that he possessed a moral supremacy over the lower animals, and thrft their advantage in speed and strength was not to terrify him for, by virtue of his supremacy, he could win success both in defence and attack. The mystery of this supremacy impressed him with the consciousness of the exalted place that he held in the order of Nature and made his sense of responsibility all the greater. His busienss was now to discover the moral law of his being. Upon this quest man was engaged for many thousands of years, and it was not until these latter pays that its discovery could be proclaimed in the words: “Thou sha t love the Lord thy God with all tryheart, with all thy mind, with all thy soul and with all thy strength: and thy neighbour as thyself.’ Meanwhile, note how the discovery progressed, for it was in the nature o a titanic struggle. SPIRITUAL ADVANCE. The great pioneers of spiritual advance, insisted that man must adapt his life to the truth as he understood it. The generality of man argued for air adaptation o the truth ro his own desires. Eve S aw that the fruit was pleasant to look upon and that it was to e desired, and so fell into disobedience of moral command. Cain could no bring himself to the surrender of the pleasant things of life and would only give to his God a nominal recognition of His sovereignty. Th drift of the moral life of man now appears to have been towards setting up those standards of morality which did not conflict with the attainment of his desires, and the strong men became a law Into- themselves. Their recognition Of God was purely nominal. They gave Him what they felt they could afford after they had satisfied their own ambitions. Then came the devastation that almost wiped out the human race: and the first act o Noah after the flood had subsided was to offer a sacrifice which symbolised the reinstatement of the belief that man belonged to God an was morally responsible to Him. T ie thought is a most profound one, and as it is the basis of our most sublime faith, it is well to meditate upon and compare the conflict nr our own souls with that which raged for so long among the generations 0 our forefathers. They realised, as we must, that all else in life must give way to the search for the Truth that the Truth must he found am that it must he obeyed.