IN this age material power, so called, has been developed to an enormous extent. The steam engine, the gas engine, the electrically driven motor, all have emphasized to mankind the sense of material power. Unquestionably, the effect of this has been to cause many to regard physical energy as of paramount importance in human affairs, and to disregard spiritual power almost entirely. They have come to look upon the material side of life, with its mechanical appurtenances, as overwhelmingly significant, and so have failed to give to spirituality its supreme place.
Those who regard material power in this way naturally carry their convictions into realms other than the industrial, even into the moral and the political. They believe, for example, that moral suasion has its limits, and that it is often futile to try to find a solution to moral issues through spiritual considerations. They believe also that political issues, either national or international, are frequently insoluble through moral and spiritual means, and that the only way they can be met is through the arbitrament of material power.
It is sad to observe the materialist closing his eyes in this way to the power of spiritual qualities or ideas, notwithstanding their obvious potency. No one can possibly deny the power of love and goodness and truth in human experience. With children, for example, everybody knows the part love plays in protecting and guiding them and in providing for their needs. And afterwards, in youth, how valuable is the hand of love of parent and friend! The snares of evil appear to be much in evidence in these days; and they are often so cunningly laid as readily to deceive the unwary. How necessary, therefore, that from the friend skilled in the value of moral rectitude and spiritual uprightness should come the warning and the admonition!
