Tárogató, 1944-1945 (7. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1944-11-01 / 5. szám
14 TÁROGATÓ a French naval force under La Perouse Hearne was taken as a captive to France, but in 1783 he was released and proceeded again to Churchill, where he remained until 1787, returning then to England, where he died in November, 1792. —Onward. JUST WEIGHTS The work of exploring the ancient cities of Palestine or Babylon is most interesting. There may be nothing to show where the city stood but a large mound or mounds. The houses have fallen and crumbled to dust. The walls have fallen also. Only the large stones of the foundations are left in their place, buried in the dust and sand. But when the explorer comes with his spade and tools, and carefully opens up this mound, what wonderful things he finds. He can trace the city of thousands of years ago, and tell you where the walls stood, and where the streets, what kind of houses the people had, what race they belonged to, and how they lived. He finds in the houses of these people, so long dead, broken dishes, and he will tell you how they were made, and where. He finds tools of stone, or bronze, or iron, and he can tell from these the time at which the city flourished. He may dig deeper still, and find tools or weapons of stone which show that still farther back an older race lived on the same spot, and died away and was succeeded by the people whose remains were found above theirs. There are traces of their altars and high places, and he will tell you what their religion was, and who were their gods. You may imagine yourself going through the street of the living town, and seeing the workmen at work. Here was the potter’s workshop, where he made his clay pots and bowls. Here was the carpenter, and here the worker in stone, and here the goldsmith. Now those w'ho have excavated can tell you a curious thing about this goldsmith. He was found to have had two drawers full of little stone weights. When these were examined, one lot was found to be too light, the other lot wTas too heavy. Why? Because the heavy weights w'ere used in buying that he might get more than he ought to get, and the light weights were used in selling, that he might give less than he should give. I wonder if people suspected him of such tricks, but could not prove it? One might think that as his false weights have lain hidden for thousands of years, his sin would never be found out, yet there it is. This kind of dishonesty is very old. It was in use when the Book of Deuteronomy was written. So it w7as necessary to put this law into it: “Thou shalt not have in thy bag divers weights, a great and small.” —Explorer. THE DEEPER ISSUE There is a real reason for the vindictiveness of Hitler toward both the Christian and Jewish faiths. Consciously or not, he recognizes that these faiths place the authority of God above the authority of the States, that they are unalterably opposed to the whole idea of a totalitarian State. And in recognizing that he recognizes what, for us, constitutes the main issue in the great conflict now reaching its climax. The issue lies in the opposing fundamental beliefs about God and humanity, as between us and the Nazis. A man is always sure to do the things which in his deepest heart he believes. The Nazi is the modern pagan and he shows it in his whole attitude toward others. We believe in a God who is not only the Father of all men, but also the Ruler of all men, and whose will is an indwelling element in the world, present, like power, in everything. The whole trend of Western civilization toward freedom, equality and justice has been under the guidance of that faith. The only explanation for the great advance of Western civilization toward freedom, equality and justice is to be found in this, that it has been under the guidance of that faith. The only explanation for the great interval between ancient civilization at its best and the best of modern civilization lies in those great moral ideals that have their source in Christianity and its insistence on the ordering of life according to principles that are superior to all that is temporal. There can be no peace for Germany or for the world till Nazism is definitely broken down. That is the meaning of “unconditional surrender.” It means that there will not be, because there cannot be, any negotiation with Hitler or Mussolini and the things they stand for. {From, an editorial in The United Churchman).
