Tárogató, 1942-1943 (5. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1942-07-01 / 1-2. szám
16 TÁROGATÓ stature if he be free to develop his personality, and this is why he has instinctively rebelled against despotism. A dictator may befool the people for a time, but in the end they will turn from him and break his rule. ‘The history of human progress is, in truth, the history of the gradual emancipation of individuality or personality from the shackles by which its creative power was rhestrained’.” “In every country suffering under Nazi oppression there are hundreds of thousands of men and women who have not bowed the knee to Baal. In their hearts the love of freedom burns, and they only await the day when they can ‘stand upon their feet, an exceeding great army’, to strike a blow in the common cause. “Outside Europe and notably in the United States of America the conflict between freedom and oppression has been closely followed, and as the true nature of the struggle has been nakedly revealed for every eye to see, the American people have realised that both their interest and their duty call for co-operation with the Allies.” \ “The Bible can be regarded as a bulwark of human freedom—not a common line of interpretation, but one that deserves more attention than it has received. The Scriptures can be represented as protesting against despotism and voicing the love of liberty. From first to last the Bible stands forth as The Book of Freedom.” THE NEW CITY TEMPLE In April the City Temple was destroyed by incendiary bombs hurled down indiscriminately by enemy aircraft. Firemen on duty strove heroically to save the building, but nothing could avail against the massed and brutal onslaught from the skies. The destruction was as complete as organised wickedness could have desired. In the midst of the indescribable ruin, which confronted one at a first glance from the pavement on Holborn Viaduct, was the familiar bust of Dr. Parker. Its pedestal had gone; it bore traces of front-line action, but otherwise it was intact, and it will ever remain a precious City Temple possession. The facial expression of unconquerable resolve and indomitable purpose electrified passers-by possessed of treasured and inspiring memories of the past, and aware of the long-sustained traditions of the City Temple. Evil certainly did its worst that night. A- gainst a Church which, in successive ministries of extraordinary power and influence, had been a dynamic centre of incalculable beneficence, and of spiritual and cultural enlightenment, implaceable hate levelled an almost shattering blow. For all who loved the City Temple, on all the five continents, the news of its destruction came as a calamitous personal loss. Hitler, being Hitler, was justified in destroying the City Temple, or any other Church of Christ. Such wanton destruction is indeed a magnificent tribute to the fidelity of our ' Churches. After all, where else, in like measure or with like authority, can one find the inner secret of those things that sustain the finest and highest spiritual moral? Let the Churches rejoice that they should be accounted dangerous by wicked men, and worthy to suffer in such a cause. Let the world see unmistakably the manifestation of essential Christianity —which does not stand or fall by any building, however sacred—resolute, courageous, humane, magnanimous, self-sacrificing. Le City Temple est mórt: Vive le City Temple! Like the fabled phoenix, it will rise from its ashes in resurrected power, and with redoubled determination, for the vindication and reassertion of all that constitutes its unique mission in the heart of the Metropolis. As soon as may be possible ,the City Temple will be rebuilt to the glory of God and the service of humanity—a finer edifice, and on the same site. —Albert Clare7 WE CANNOT CHEAT NATURE Men are apt to think that in these latter days, with all our boasted wisdom, we are able to get ahead of nature; we can sow one thing and reap another; we can run up the rods which our genius has invented and escape the dreaded lightning. But it is not so. There is no evading the rules of the game of life. We may go our own way, but we must'pay; whether late or early, we must pay. We may cover foly with the thickest veneer of seeming wisdom, but there is no disguising the fool within. Ignorance remains ignorance, even if we have a hundred college certificates. The slacker and the slothful cannot inherit with the earnest and the industrious. The roots must be firm and deep in the earth before wTe can expect to see the fruit. No man is, or ever will be, wise enough to fool nature. We live under laws which govern both saint and sinner, and there is no evading those laws. This is well for youth to know and never to forget. — ONWARD.
