The Dominion WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1910. THE CHRISTMAS MESSAGE

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 77, 24 December 1919, Page 6

The Dominion WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1910. THE CHRISTMAS MESSAGE

Though tho Great War has overturned many ancient institutions and shattered many widespread ideas, the Christmas message has lost nono of its value or validity. The need and the desire- for good will among men were never greater. The world has had tragic demonstration of tho consequences of illwill, and the hope of the futuro consists in the spread of the spirit of good will and comradeship in all tho relations of life. Mankind needs a grea-fc deepening and broadening of that commuriity sense— that spirit of fellowship—which would break down social barriers, make class war impossible, and put an end to industrial strife. It would make men and women think more about what they can give to the community and less about what they get from the community. Without this spirit of good will laws and regulations for the maintenanco of peace at home and abroad cannot achieve their object. With good will our highest hopes for the future of mankind could be realised. Good will implies the desire Ito do justice to pur fellows; to be loyal to thorn; to'trust them; to consider their welfare as well as our own; to treat others as we tfoidd like them to treat us. People who have not learned how to live together harmoniously have no right to regard themselves as fully civilised. In the past tho spiritual foundations of progress hnvo been largely ignored or regarded as impractical. The irresistible logic of ovents is now compolling us to acknowledge that the moral factor is so essential that without it our civilisation must collapse sooner or later.

Tho national and international problems with which all civilised peoples arc now grappling arc fundamentally moral problems. It has been said that politics and economics are departments of ethics. Tho industrial unrest which is at present so acute can never be permanently or satisfactorily settled unless this fact is realised. This is the opinion of Mil. G. N. Barnes, onn of tho ablest of the Labour members of the British Parliament. He recently declared that a materialistic doctrine of rancour and illwill can never put things right. Man is not a beast of prey. Tn order to get he must Rive. Mn. Barnes quoted tho old Scottish proverb, "If you want to mnk , fre-ens you maun bo friendly," and went on to say that we are apt to think too much of our own projects, and too little of (he unseen forces which will inevitably rule the world in the long run. The Labour rfucstion is much more than a mere matter of bread and huttor. It is, said Mr. Barnes, a religious question, a question of man's proper place as man, and not merely as wageearner. Wo must go on improving our social and industrial arrango-

ineiits until every citizen has ,1 fair chance of making the most and best of his physical and mental endowments, of living a full and free, life, and of developing his spiritual instincts and capacities, livery workman should be treated as an individual, not a "hand." The materialistic conception of life can never permanently satisfy a high-minded and high-spirited people. The heart of man cries out for something truer and better. Spiritual values are the highest and most lasting values. Without justice, good will, truth, and beauty life would not be worth living, and a nation which is unable or unwilling to honour these virtues is travelling down tho perilous incline which ends in destruction.

It is of these spiritual realities that tho Christinas message speaks— and it speaks with power at the prosent critical moment in the world's history. ■ An eminent English scientist, Sir Kay Lankester, recently declared that as a result of the war people will have greater regard for the ethics of Christianity —for those Christian ideas which find expression in the, desire for peace and good will, in love of honesty and justice, in pity and Compassion for the suffering and oppressed, and in tho watchwords liberty, equality, and fraternity. Men of Rood will in all countries are longing for the pood time cominp;, when the Christian moral law will govern all human relationships —national and international, as well as personal. The establishment of a League of Nations is a stop towards the attainment of this ideal. The League is not likely to fulfil all expectations, but it is at least a recognition of the principle that nations should he treated as "moral persons," and is a partial realisation of tho idea of a family of nations in which each 'member would have a keen sense of moral obligation to each and all of the others. The creation of a real family of nations would bo a great striclo towards the complete unification of the whole human race—a thoroughly Christian ideal. Tho civilised world has some tremendously difficult problems to solve, but they arc not insoluble. New Zealand, like other nations, has big difficulties ahead of it, but they can be successfully overcome if we grapple with them wisely and resolutely and fearlessly. We are justified in looking to the future in hope and confidence, and can with unfaltering minds wish each other during this festival of peace and good wj.U "A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year," because we believe that the heart of man is sound, s,nd that tlPower which rules the universe is wife and merciful, and strong enough to make certain of the final victory of good over evil.