BRILLIANT FAILURES.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 5178, 14 September 1927, Page 4

BRILLIANT FAILURES.

THEY made HISTORY.

(Rev. D. G. Miller, in Otago Daily Times).

The most brilliant pages in history are the stories of brilliant failures. I use the word "brilliant” advisedly, for I am not thinking of men who failed miserably : of, men who by cunning and deceit and greed came to earth like “fallen stars,” and whose names, are a sinister warning to every generation. No, lam thinking of men and women fired by high ideals who nobly dared and nobly died, and whose names are kept fragrant in the common memory. They failed in so far as their aims were not realised, but their failure was a seed deposit which blosslpmed and flowered long after they themselvesi had passed hence. Such meh (and women too) were often sneered at and sometimes spat upon. They made history—those dreamers of dreams and apostles of Utopian ideas—for we must never forget that history is not' a matter of dates, of the birth and demise ol> kings and queens, of futile battles and wretched political intrigues, but that it is a record of pioneer personalities. ■ The ink has, scarcely dried of one of th® most recent chapters added to the living book of history; the) chapter recording the late war. After thirteen years incidents and men have, more or less, fallen into their proper niches, and we can look at them in a clearer perspective. And who stand out ? When the “ tumult and the shouting dies, the captain and the kings, depart,” and quietly we size up the situation, who stand out ? When we pay our tribute to the . million nameless heroes who fought and suf-, fered and died we realise' that the names of those who stood unabashed and unafraid in the fierce light of public opinion, and whose characters stood the test, are very few indeed. They are not to be found among the greasy profiteers, the political acrobats, or blood and thunder militarists, but among those whom the unthinking dubbed failures. There Ist , WOODROW WILSON. He is accounted a brilliant failure, and so he is. But his failure will yet prove to be the seed-plot from which will grow the fairest flower of international peace. Many contradictory statements, have been made about this remarkable American, idealist. It could not be otherwise, for an idealist has as many sides to his nature as diamonds has facets. It will be generally admitted that General Smuts is a man whose word is worth listening to. Of Woodrow Wilson he said: Only a man of his great powers and influence and dogged determination could have parried the Covenant through the Peace Conference. The leader who, in spite of apparent failure siucceedied in inscribing his name on that banner, has achieved the most enviable and enduring immortality. Americans of the future will yet proudly and gratefully rank, him with Washington and Lincoln, and his fame will have a more universal significance than theirs.” Yet, Wilson failed, but he failed gloriously. Another name that is enduring, and which people will always enshrine in the poign ant memories of the war, is that of EDITH CAVELL. She, t< jo, has been dubbed a failure. She wb .0 said ‘‘Patriotism i® not enough,’ ’ has been called a fool because d'he disdained the laws of selfpreserv ation. But the heart of humanity is T.ound, as I have seen evidenced again and again when standing by the ugl y statue erected to her memory in thrs. heart of London. I have watched vi nitorsi from all over the world stand bareheaded and silent in memory of .an English nurse whose name and deed will be recalled when our greatgrandchildren are bold the story of the desolation that swept over our time.. Of, such failures is history made. The name of another brilliant failure lea ps into conscious memory, that of GHANDT. W’nat he has done and is doing for India will yet be recognised as a not unimportant factor in. the development of that wonderful country. Non-co-operation and non-violence are the two leading principles of this saintly character, who is venerated by million's of his own brown-skinned brethren. Non-co-operation failed, as it wa/s bound to fail. Non-violence cannot fail. It will be realised one day that in this matter Ghandi is practising one of the greatest fundamentals of the Christian religion, one which Christian people, as a rule, are afraid to put to the test because of its awful cost. He believed that nonviolence is the only way of resisting evil. Look up the Sermon on the Mount!

Other names clamour for recognition, blit I have said sufficient to show that the so-called brilliant failures are really hisitory-makers. Why ? Because they stand for ideas, and IDEAS CANNOT BE KILLED.

You can kill men, but you cannot kill their thoughts. Great ideas always pass, through a. Gethsemane on their way to crucifixion, where men in their blind passion revile them — but th.ere’s always a resurrection. Later--diere and there, perhaps in a humble cottage or in a scholar’s den —thxe idea springs up again and once mo,re a man goes out —maybe to die. CALVARY’S CROSS was a fitting symbol of failure. Then you have God suffering They put Jesus to death, but no tomb could ever hold in its cold embrace the great ideals for whic h Ha stood ■and died, and for which He rose again. The so-called failure of Jesus is the focal point of the world’s redemption. The heartening thing in tbe present distracted condition of the world i s that mem are not wanting, th.ank God, mein and women who are prepared to be failures for His sake.