The Unseen Power

[Music] [Applause] [Music] England's green and pleasant land. And not much more than a 100 years ago, it was a green and pleasant land where men lived and worked with in sight and sound of the wonders of nature. Most of us at some time in our lives have looked back to that time when the face of Britain was beautiful and the natural products of the soil were harvested so that man might eat and live. Most of us have longed for a return of that unhurried age when in the quiet village houses and cottages stood each in its garden in groups around the church. In those villages most men lived and died with little thought outside the life of their self-contained community, loving and knowing only the things that belong to the soil which was their livelihood. Exchange of goods, exchange of knowledge, exchange of talk made a market town the center of business and social life. Products of the soil were exchanged for products of the town. And beneath the cathedral spreads out a maze of streets, alleys, and open markets. But the inhabitants of these towns were near to the sunlight to the fields and rivers. The works of men did not cut them off entirely from the works of God. [Music] But under this lovely face of Britain, in six great regions there lies coal. [Music] Coal transformed the face of Britain and the life of its people. For coal meant steam, and steam meant power to drive the wheels of industry. So a new kind of work began in certain places different from the work of the fields and country towns and the face of the land was disfigured. Here the sun was hidden behind the smoke clouds of furnace and factory. And because industry develops where it can get power, the six coal fields of Britain became the new centers of activity and expansion. Now instead of rural sounds and the song of the bird, men heard the rhythm of the machines. [Music] In these centers, industry was developed as fast as man could build and work. There grew up a teeming population of factory and mine workers. There grew up huge centers of manufacture and countless small buildings to house the servants of the new industry. Meadow and fields were blotched with giant tips for slag. In factories, mills, foundaries, forges, smitties, mines, and workshops, the machine prospered and took charge of man. The power of steam and coal dominated the land. The industrial age gave Britain wealth and power. It gave the population as a whole an increase of material and intellectual prosperity. But it produced a congestion of slums and factories where the spiritual side of man had to struggle against great odds to grow and develop. Away from the centers of industry, in the mountains of the north, in pool and stream, in waterfall and lake, the source of a new power was waiting. [Applause] and scientific discovery was ready for the revelation of electricity. [Music] Here was the driving power of a new age. Here too was the opportunity of reconstruction and renewal. A nationwide plan is devised to carry power and light into the furthest corners of the land. Lakes are damned to make giant reservoirs of energy. Waterfalls are harnessed, rivers diverted along man-made channels, tunnels are boarded, and aqueducts constructed so that turbines may turn to create the new driving force, the new and unseen power. Huge quantities of this energy can be controlled by one man, and the works that go to its making harmonize with the countryside. From major points, the power is controlled, transferred from one part of the country to another so that the needs of industry, agriculture, and the home may be kept supplied. The unseen power is distributed over the countryside to the north, south, east, and west by cables carried on pylons. There is nothing active to be seen, but it is a living load that these pylons carry over mountains, fields, and rivers. So with the coming of mobile power through the length and breadth of the land, into the small villages of the countryside and into the big centers of manufacture, the areas of industry are extended. Power is no longer chained to the coal field. It can go where it will. It can be clean. It can be beautiful. It can be made a noble element in the landscape itself. And much of the heavy smoke cloud of the past can be dissipated. But power in industry is only part of a greater plan. There is much to be done. The heritage of the smoke age, the chaos and squalor brought about by the uncontrolled spread of industry can have no place in the new face of our land. Not only must slums be cleared, but we must see that nothing ugly takes their place. The new communities must be planned in whole and in detail with a full understanding of the practical, cultural and religious needs of the new society. New buildings are arising, new shapes to meet the everdeveloping needs of industry, but all simple, fresh and clean. Out of steel, glass and concrete, the architects and builders must make Britain a place where men and women can live and work with dignity. All the efficiencies and amenities of the 20th century are ready to be used. Great new dwelling places rise up, replacing the old chaos of the slums. Machinery and science can bring about better conditions of working and permit greater freedom for leisure, for getting away from the spheres of work into the open countryside. But these are but the beginnings of what must be done. What use is to be made of these newer and cleaner conditions? New surroundings are not sufficient in themselves. They must be utilized by a new people. A clean house can only be kept clean by a clean heart. The unseen power revealed and harnessed by scientific discovery may be not useful but harmful. Everything depends on the character of the people for whose service it is available. The unseen spirit of God is the greatest power of the new life. That spirit is available for all who will accept it. It shall come to pass in the last days. I will pour forth of my spirit upon all men. A new heart will I give you, and I will put my spirit within you. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. All things are become new. [Music] Bring [Applause] me home. [Music] Bring me my [Music] Bring me. [Music] Bring me my child. Oh, shall I [Music] bring us love? [Music]