HUMANISM

I shall deal with the subject in a practical manner, with no attempt at a scholarly approach to the generally accepted exposition of the Renaissance movement found in the literature and history textbooks usually taught in our high schools and colleges today. The ascendancy of Man over the less gifted, and less important beings of creation is obvious, and has been known and demonstrated long before there was ever a Greece or a Rome. The forces that brought on the failure of the Greek and Roman Civilizations are still at work today, and are able to destroy again both the illustrious discoveries and the amazing progress ascribed to Human effort!

The Renaissance, beginning in the fourteenth century with some degree of impact on art and architecture, and increasing in its importance through the fifteenth century, reached a marked momentum of emphasis during the Reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England and continuing through the Reigns of her immediate Successors. In the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries, the New Learning, as it has been called, has reached its highest peak of influence.

The chief and fatal doctrine of Humanism is its Claim that Human Perfectibility can be attained through Man's own efforts without the assistance of Divine intervention! In the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries the Vast Increase in Knowledge and Technology, together with inventions, discoveries, scientific achievements bringing change in farming, industry, travel - to say nothing of entertainment and communication - has come to a position where a Nemesis Action seems almost inevitable! To Guard against Such a Crisis, Mankind faces a Severe Dilemma! Perhaps this condition is little understood by a Populace whose failing educational systems designed to educate the masses are showing signs of both Neglect and aggressive Innovations which tend toward a deterrence of ethic and moral stability! Increase of knowledge can mean either increase of virtues or vices! Mankind therefore needs Help!

Our Triune God is the Only Source of the Help that mankind, His greatest Creation, needs! Our Frontiers have by no means been exhausted, not even in our own land, much less the world. The Fact, however, that Human Effort has pushed the limits of our frontiers out into Space and into a greater comprehension of the Universe does not mean that we have graduated in solving Social problems, to say nothing of economic, political, and moral problems! These last named Problems threaten our well-being and even our existence! Let us turn away from the limited good in Humanism to the unlimited Good and Joy through Jesus Christ Who is tee the Way, The Truth, and The Life! '' Such surrender sacrifices no part of Humanism that is Good. The Christian Faith in its fullness contains all the Good that may be found in all religions. All-inclusive and All-Exclusive as it is, The Christian Faith is the Embodiment of Love in God's Only Son, Christ Jesus our Lord. In the words of the great apostle Paul, "Love worketh no ill to his neighbor; therefore Love is the Fulfilling of the Lawl'' There fore the ultimate conclusion that mankind can reach in the light of the foregoing facts is that all of his worthy and noble achievements be controlled by a Force that holds dominion over himself and his achievements. History has revealed and the present has confirmed that mankind cannot control either himself or his achievements. The fallen condition of man should be real to him. As he accepts this Reality and turns to the One Perfect Man and Redeemer of Mankind in child-like Faith, he finds in Christ Jesus both the Freedom and the Power to overcome the world and its cursed condition!

In the light of these Truths let all remember
And find and feel the glorious confirmation
In Christ Our Lord in all Holy Splendor,
Abetted by the Love and Beauty of God's Creation.

Yes, It Is Good, we'll repeat It ls Good-
The Joy and the Bliss of Unfailing Brotherhood,
Marked by the Touch of Tender Hands that Would
Ever show Kindness and Never show Strife;
But Abound in God's Grace and the Christ-Like Life!