ACCIDENTALISM

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 696, 22 June 1929, Page 8

ACCIDENTALISM

QUIET CORNER

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

PURPOSELESS life is an accidental one. Most of the affairs of our lives are accidental. Religion (so far as denomination is concerned), social status, physical proportion , and mental capacity are to a great extent matters of inheritance. The sum total of what we are by virtue of our own choice does not amount to very much. A large number of us never get beyond the accidental stage. We accept ourselves as we are, and put. down to “human nature” any of our shortcomings. *'l suppose a fellow was built that way, and that's all there is to it.” is quite a common expression of opinion. “Take me as I am, for better or worse,” says the bridegroom, “and if it turns out trumps, all right: if it doesn't — don't squeal.” It is not until there dawns upon us the consciousness of power that we begin to become what we want to be, and begin to achieve what we most desire. Not until a man realises his own individuality as something separate and distinct, given him as a means whereby he may contribute something equally distinct to the accumulated sum of human experience, does he begin to live. Better by far be a crossing-sweeper who looks upon his job in the nature of a “ call” to service, than be a millionaire who lives upon income derived from enterprises in which his interest is purely financial, and in which his principal motive is personal gain. It is not the size of the gun, nor the weight of the projectile, nor the length of the range that counts. It is the force produced by percussion. As a percussion cap is to a gun. so is the soul to man. By the impact of faith his life is lifted above the plane of the accidental, on to that of conscious design, and purposeful achievement. No longer will he look upon the portion of his mental and spiritual inheritance in the light of something which predisposes him to failure, but as a small deposit placed by God in the * l bank of his personal character,” to which he can add for his greater good, and from which he can subtract to his own damnation. NEXT WEEK: PERSPECTIVE