RELIGIOUS READING.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 253, 23 February 1917, Page 1 (Supplement)

RELIGIOUS READING.

NIETZSCHE OR CHRIST.—T. SUPERMAN OR CHRISTIAN,

We are becoming accustomed to the word Super-man, because it has been used so often in connection with the war and as the ideal philosophy of the German Army and the German people. There is, in a sense, something that hooks on in the phrase, as the one thing necessary for conquest. The idea is closely connected with "Eugenics," considered from a scientific point of view. This is nothing fresh, from a German point of view, as the first William of Germany took a special pride in his Prussian Guards, and asked on one occasion a British officer if he thought England had such a fine regiment of men. The answer is reported to have been: No, he did not think England could produce so many men so physically big and strong, hut added that he had no doubt that one third of the/number of English would Attack and defeat his army! The science, as it may be called, took another form under the teaching of Nietzsche. It was not only a physical body, but a "Will to Power." The weak must go to the wall for the good of the species: the race must he to the strong. Life properly was not a struggle for existence, as Darwin suggested, but a struggle for power, and everything must be subordinated to the idea of gaining power. The superman is not one "meek and lowly in heart," neither is he an individual man, like some Napoleon or some Colossus, but a superior type or species of man. He says: "A stronger kind, a higher type must come to light having other conditions for Its origin and for its maintenance than the average man. The superman is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: The superman shall be the meaning of the earth. I conjure you, my brethren; remain true to the earth and believe not those who speak to you of super-earthly hopes. Poisonous are they, whether they know It or not." It is evident from this that this teaching is something more than rationalism or this worldism. It is pure atheism.

Now on the other hand, "What Is a Christian?" that we may draw the comparison. We would answer a Christian is one who Is a believer and follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. We might ask another question, "What does that mean?" It means a believer and follower of the highest type ot manhood this world has ever seen. Perfection in all parts, body, soul and spirit in relationship to God, to his neighbour and the world at large, and to the ultimate end of human life—the great spiritual hereafter. It is the poor conceptions the world has of Christianity that is at fault. Though we are to pity the weak, to show sympathy, and render help to the suffering, we are to grow, till we come to the stature of a perfect man in the fullness of Christ. Tha Ideal Christian is one who is striving for the glory of a pure and spotless life, a simple nobility of character, performing all the gracious actions of life and death for the uplift of others, with the Great Consummation ever in view, when God in Christ will be glorified. We look back over the past and we say Christianity won over the Pagan world, because it had higher Ideal? of justice and truth. All life was sasred; it first began to do away with infanticide, so common among the Romans; it started a pure home life, marriage was also sacred. The gladiatorial combats were condemned, and finally done away with. A day of rest was instituted. Slaves were liberated. Liberty of action was attained after severe persecution. Man's relationship to the one Triune God was established, and the hope of Everlasting Life glowed and shone in the hearts and lives of those who received it. During the last 1900 years Christian men have been in the vanguard of all progress whether in Moral Philosophies or Modern Sciences, and to-day they are at the front of everything that Is for the good of the human race. I have before me a note on the life of Pandita Ramabai of India, who has done, and is still doing, so much for the ten million outcast child widows of India. In speaking of how she became a Christian she says: "T was desperate. What was to be done? My thoughts could not and did not help me. I had at last come to an end of myself, and unconditionally surrendered myself to the Saviour, and I asked Him to be merciful to me and to become my Righteousness and my Redemption, and to take away all my sin. . , The Holy Spirit made it clear to me from the word of God that the Salvation which God gives through Christ is present, and net something future. I believed it. I received it, and was filled with joy." Her love for Christ found practical expression in the school which she opened at Poona for child widows and orphans. The lives of other Christians inspired her and she determined to commence a faith Mission among the women of her own land. She has succeeded, and is a living memorial of what a Christian or follower of Christ may be. Space forbids me to enlarge on this point, but I may mention the namos of John Ilrward, Elizabeth Fry. and Florence Nightingale, as examples of what Christianity is, taking It for granted that everyone in the Colonies knows something of thp noble work these devoted servants of (!od did in and

through the love of Jesus Christ for poor, fallen, suffering humanity In the prisons and hospitals of the Old Country. N'ow we can see the difference between Hie Superman and the Christian. The one 1a to save, the other Is to destroy. We can also see what, this means to the weaker nations as well as to tho weaker individuals. T would l>e sorry to think that this Is the thought of every Christian German, hut the same tiling may be tnip r.von In religion. It h.as been tried on in the past by the Roman Church. I might, mention especially 'he island of Madagascar, but it has never succeeded. It is unnatural and brutal to kill and to destroy with a view of making some people bettor

The present war is a realistic comment on this Superman or "The Will to Power." wi'h its ruthless disregard of the de'enceless and weal;; and we can contemplate what the wrrld would be like when the Superman reached his goal alter crushing out every competitor! Much more might he said in reference to the earthly, but the supreme thought in every Christian is the heavenly. The first man is of the earth, eaithy, thp s'rrond Man is the Lord from TTe.aven Life here is so short. The "groat majority." as wo often say. are those who have "crossed the bar." The Highest Personage in existence is that One who can guarantee a safe con-

duct into that homeland of the soul. The Christian life is continuoustrue Evolution —through the Eternal Life of its Founder and the Ransom that was paid to save man from sin and death its penalty, Down in the valley or upon the mountain steep. Clow beside mv Saviour would my soul ever keep; He will lead me safely in the path that He has trod, l'p to where they gather on the hills of Ood. (Nielz?che and Christ next paper. > CIVTP.