The Dominion MONDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1917. THE TRAGIC NOTE IN HISTORY

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 77, 24 December 1917, Page 4

The Dominion MONDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1917. THE TRAGIC NOTE IN HISTORY

The experiences , of over three years of the most terrible and destructive war tho world has ever witnessed have compelled us to see more clearly' than before that tho Christmas message of peace on earth is not the whole of the , Gospel, There is an inward peace whir.ti the' knowledge of duty well dono gives to men of good will. This is a personal possession which no amount of outward tumult can take away. General Gordon experienced it at Khartoum when, surrounded by the frenzied hosts of the Mahdi, he stood face to face with death. Millions of other men and women, rich and poor, have enjoyed it in all ages and places, and through" all the changes and chances of life. But peace is not the only thing that Christianity stands- for. It has its heroic—its tragic side. Its Founder declared that He came not to send peace on the earthj but a sword. True peace in the national sense is not merely the absence of war, but, first and foremost, the presence of justice and righteousness. The bloodiest war is more in harmony with the principles of Christianity than an unjust pcace. The Christian way of life was never intended to be a soft and easy road. It is a hard and tragic path to tread, and all history declares that the tragic path is tho way to greatness. "Tragedy," says Mr. Chesterton, "is tho highest expression of the infinite value of human life." Suffering and striving have always been more fruitful than uninterrupted' enjoyment of a quiet and comfortable existence. History provides ample justification for Buskin's declaration that "no nation ever yet enjoyed a protracted and triumphant peace without receiving in its own bosom ineradicable seeds of future decline." Manhood is seen at its best not when it abandons itsolf to the delights of panem el circenscs—of which "tucker and the races" is the modern equivalent —but when "man stands out pale, resolute, prepared to die; which means alive at last." The tragic clement in human history has done much to enrich and ennoble _ life, and has given it depth and intensity. All the great empires of tho world have been wav-made. War does not always mean victory, but it is always tragic. A recent writer has pointed out that Tennyson in his Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wcllivr/ton sums up that long life pf unbroken victory in the words: "The long self-sacrifice of life is o'er." Tho price of victory is a high one. The mistaken idea that the Chrissmas message of pcace on earth is the beginning and end of the Gospel is largely roaponsible for many .>f the attacks tvhich have recently been made upon the ethics .and ideals of Christianity. Some criths contend that Christianity is an

ignoble, soft, and feeble thing—a religion only fit for {.lie "botchcd and bungled," for weaklings and slaves. It must be admitted that tho watcrcd-down, commonplace substitute, which is too often mistoken for the genuine articlc, is not able to touch the imagination or inspire the enthusiasm of highspirited men and women. Tlie iVew Testament has much to say about life, and tho more abundant life, which is something infinitely bigger than mere existence. It is a great adventure, a continual warfare, a launching out into the unknown. Real ■ Christianity is a tremendous oxplosivo force. The early_ Christians were accused of turning the world upside down. No one knew tho thrill of living dangerously better than St. Paul, who was stoned and beaten and shipwrecked, who passed his days in perils of robbers, in perils from his countrymen, in perils from the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the' wilderness.

Tho present tremendous upheaval has utterly falsified the predictions of those philosophers of last century who assured us that war would disappear from the earth because it would becomo too costly; that the nations would apply themselves without further interruption to their all-absorbing task of moneymaking and money-spending, anct of securing the greatest possible amount .of ease, comfort, and enjoyment. This belief had_ a debasing effect on popular religion. People got hold of the idea that Christianity was only another name for comfortable Victorian respectability. They lost sight of the tragic aspect of religion and of life. _ The war is now showing us that it is in tragedy that man's true greatness become 3 manifest. The war has also made it evident that tho seeds of decadence we sowed in peace have not yet becomo ineradicable. -It has proved that our manhood is as strong as ever it wasf and the heroism of tin young men who have been taken from shops and offices, farms and factories, and other walks of life has evoked the wonder and admiration of the civillSid world. Never has the call of duty been more enthusiastically obeyed, and never have the men and women of 1 our race shown a greater capacity for self-sacrifice. The war has revealed these splendid qualities in a manner that nothing else could. It has reminded us that there is_a magnificence in tragedy in spite of its terribleness. Professor Bradley declares that no ono can conclude the reading of Shakespeare's tragedies with the feeling that man is a poor creature. "He may be wretched, and he may be awful, but he is not small. His lot may be heartrending mysterious, but it is not contemptible." Professor Bradley goes on to say that the central feeling created by Shakespearean tragedy is the impression of wasts. Commenting on this statement ths Rev. William Temple remarks that "the heroic stature of the characters in whom that waste is exhibited forces it upon our attention and makes it terrible as well as pitiable." This is just how many of us feel in regard to the thousands cf heroic young lives which have been sacrificcd in this gigantic fight 'or right and freedom. We would be driven to utter pessimism if we did not believe that the joys and sorrows, the pains and passions, of men were dominated by somo over-ruling moral purpose, worthy of the sacrifices ncccssary to attain it.