The Curate's Egg

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 412, 21 July 1928, Page 8

The Curate ' s Egg

THE QZTIET CORNER

(Written for THE SDN by the Rev. Charles Chandler, Assistant City Missioner.)

7he outstanding fact about tlie curate's egg teas that it was bad in parts. The excessive politeness of the reverend gentleman forbade him telling his hostess the plain, unvarnished truth —that the c O9 was unpalatable — and, while we sympathise with the curate in his desire to study the feelings of others , we must add that there are occasions when, in scorn of con sequences, we must out with the truth. Truth is often an unwelcome guest in our mental parlours, and, strange to say, there is no place where truth is eyed with greater suspicion than in the Church, by some of the conservative laity. Many of the clergy alloxv themselves to be mentally hobbled by the ultraorthodox susceptibilities of their congregation. With these folk, being ox'thodox is the first consideration, and anybody who tends to encroach upon established belief becomes, in their estimation, a religious Bolshevik. Sooner or later, however, we have got to realise that, in the words of Goethe, all religions have within them “a spark of truth and a sea of error,” and, ichile being rightly jealous of such truths as we hold sacred, we must be ready to recognise new truths as they shine forth from other creeds and faiths. Our own particular brand, whatever that brand may be, is like the curate's egg—bad in parts. We are not spiritual monopolists; neither are we misers, who have in our hoard all that can be said with regard to man's relationshij) with God . We must remember that when we go to Africa, China. or India, God has been there before us; that all these peoples have their own exclusive revelations, to which we may add for their benefit, and from ichich ice may take for our oxen. Is ext iceek: “Pearls and Prodigals