SUNDAY RETADING

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 101, 14 September 1912, Page 1 (Supplement)

SUNDAY RETADING

"IS IT PEACE?" Being an address to men given by the vicar of tit. Mary's (Rev. a. H. cuivue, M.A.j on Sunday, Sept. 8. This is the question—the eternal question, aji insistent; and anxious in modern life as ever it was in the most turbulent days oi oid. We look out to-day on the great nations oi the world—nominally Christian—rapidly, feverishly piling up armaments; snarling at each other'B heels; willing to wound and yet afraid to strike; and the question hauiits us, Wihy all this gigantic preparation—this waste of money that might be so much more worthily and profitably expended? What are the signs of the times to-day? Do they point to PEACE OR WAR? We look out at the unrest that exists to-day among the peoples of the world. We think of the slurp divisions classes, of the greed of the rich man and the envy of the poor, of desperate strikes tihat injure thousands of innocent people, of industrial and social upheavals and retaliations, and of all the bitterness and exasperation that follow in their train, and to doubting, almost despairing, minds the question comes, "Is it peace?" W-e think of the Christian Church today claiming as Master Him whom she delights in proclaiming the Prince, of Peace. We think of that Church, split up into countless secte, each claiming that they possess tihe "Truth," that they alone preach the pure Gospel of Christ. In spite of the recognition of the principle of religious toleration, what jealousy and bitterness and uncharity we often see among their members! W'hat 'hope i» there of uniting, of true brotherhood among christians? The question haunts us—-to what goal are the Churches travelling to-day? Is it peace? OUR INNER LIVES. Once more we look away from the world and from the Church into our inner lives, and more than ever the question haunts us, because it becomes at once intimate and personal: Is there peace within? Have I by the grace of God got a real grip on myself, or am I a driven man? Driven by my own impure and base impulses, sometimes rebelling, clinging here and there to a bit of decent feeling, the fragment of a high ideal, and then driven headlong by a ghst of pas- | sion, driven to do t/hat which makes me sick with disgust in my better momenta; 1 always "'on the run," —a hunted man. There are many men, far many more | than we sometimes imagine, who have i passed through that experience, whose inner lives have been a perpetual war—war in spite of continuous daily surrenj ders, for the spiritual enemy is no re'spector of the white flag. We gain NO PEACE BY SURRENDER. Surrender simply means fierce and constant oppression. Once our enemy gets us "on the run" we are hunted men all through our lives. We are hunted to our own graves. Nor can we enter the land of peace through the gate of indifference. Indifference is the gate of the wilderness. You find a man who takes no interest in the most interesting thing in the world—religion. He may have no strong temptations. He would never do anything that would wreck his life. Hie neighbors speak well of him. He lives on placidly from day to day, disturbed only by domestic complications , or business worries. He hears no stirring call to service; feels no desire for spiritual progress and adventure. His inner life is calm and quiet enough. Is it peace? Or is it lethargy? CHRIST'S TEACHING. We will think for a few minutes of Christ's teaching about peace, peace in the world, in the Church and in the human soul. Now it seems to me that this idea runs all through Christ's teaching--what costs you nothing is not worth having. We can only reach a goal that is worth reaching through struggle and sacrifice, through tears and travail. "I, the Prince of Peace, whose reign was to be one of justice, and gentleness, and mercy; I, whose mission is to help the weak, to give deliverance to the captive and good tidings to the poor, came not to send peace upon earth hut a sword. I am come to set men at variance." Let us appreciate the difference between an ultimate goal and the means by which we reach that goal. It is not that the end justifies the means, if the means are disreputable. It is that sometimes the means we use seem superficially directly opposed to the end we have in view. Like "Alive through the lookingglass" we have sometimes to turn our back upon the hill of achievement/and walk apparently in quite an opposite direction. if we are going to reach the summit. Now. when we speak of establishing peace among the nations of the world we go below the surface and face tihe truth that a true and lasting petace can onlv be built on the foundation of BROTHERLY LOVE. There is peace now between two powerful European nations. Wihy then do we see them piling up armaments and making elaborate warlike preparations? Because the present "peace" is a. brittle thing. It has no real foundation. Peace that is built on commercial considerations, or mutual fear or desire for comfort will always be a brittle thing, and therefore nations will lie almost bound to go on with their preparations for war, crippling themselves and spoiling) the •happiness of thousands of their own people. WBat is obviously needed, then, is the universal spirit of Ibrothenhood. So said Leo Tolstoy, the great Russian enthusiast. But he would reach the goal direct. He would abolish patriotism—the word was hateful to him—lie would break down all differences of race, and make us all cosmopolitans. He denied the value of particular friendships, of national tics, of family bonds, and told us that we were to arrive at universal love by ignoring them. Now, love for all men, and the inter communion of nations is undoubtedly an essential of the gospel of Christ. Tt is the foundation upon which a lasting and a universal peace can be built. But are we to arrive at it in the way Tolstoy suggests? I say no. A FIRST CONDITION. You cannot love other nations if you do not in the first place love your own. If you are not in the first place a strong and enthusiastic patriot, willing to make sacrifices for your own country, you will never make a sacrifice for the countries of other people. You cannot love all men if you do not in the first place love vour own family. TVe that loveth not New Zealand whom lie hath seen, how shall he love the universe whom he hath not seen? Like Alice, we must, so to speak, turn our backs for the moment on the hill of universal love and walk in at our own front door. We must set our own house in order, love our own country and our own people, and take our share in hearing our own country's burdens before we can become real "makers of peace" ill all the world. A vague and hazy affection for abstract humanity which slights patriotism and ignores the claim? of country and family will never accomplish this, any more than will the narrow and jealous local pride of (lie jingo. It irks me to see young men refusing to bear their country's burden, shirking the discipline of service and putting forward the antimilitant sentiment as their excuse. Personally, T hate ''militarism" in the jingo sense of the word—the aggressive spirit of hoastinj and brag, and the glorification of brute force as the only final and convincing argument, but the love of

one's own country and out's own people expressed ill a quiet, strong resolution to nmke any sacrifice that country demands is a very ditlerent tiling, and it is oil these lines, 1 believe, that we shall arrive at length at the peace the whole world desires, and that surely was our Lord's attitude. He was never as Tolstoy declares him to be, anti-nationalist. He was a Jew first, and tad a great love lor His own people. His very vehemence against their spirit of exclusiveness seems to be noted in a passionate love for them and for His country, a great protest against the bastard patriotism that expressed itself in every kind of petty and ungenerous exclusiveness, and contempt for every other nation tot their own. His burning love for all mankind was not inconsistent with intimate personal friendship, a preference for the family at Bethany, peculiar intimacies with certain followers, and an instinctive turning to His own countrymen. UNIVERSAL PEACE. He teaches us that we come no nearer lto universal love by starving mere local j affections. Ihrough the particular into the universal is the more excellent Way, and is by cultivating, cherishing and intensifying our love lor our own country and our own friends and by making sacrifices and bearing burdens for them that we shall gain a love for other peoples and other nations which will be the foundation on which may be built the beautiful and lasting palace of universal peace. My brothers, the same principle applies, I am sure, to the unhappy divisions in the Christian Church. We shall not reach -peace by a short cut, ,by copying the ostrich and hiding our heads in the sand, pretending that divisions do not exist and seeking to ignore them. That too often means that we give up all strong belief, all vital inspiration that comes from a'definite faith and lapse into an anaemic amiability that no more makes for lasting peace between Churches than the vague and hazy cosmopolitanism of which I 'have spoken does between countries. He that lovetii not ihis own Church which he knows, how can he love other Churches of which he knows little? Again, it is when we are loyal to our own Church and her teaching, when we are ready to make sacrifices for her and take our share of her burden that our hearts go out to our brethren of other Churches and we learn to love and respect them as fellow Christians. We become co-op-erators rather than competitors, and though the differences may still remain and will undoubtedly remain for long, there will not be that note of irony in the question of the world as it looks at' the Church to-day, and more hope for us as we put the question to ourselves, "Is it peace?" HOW TO ARRIVE AT PEACE.

And lastly—to look once more into our own lives—how are we going to arrive at the peace within which eeems to make some men so happy and themselves great peace-makers, no matter what their outside circumstances may ibe ? Can we bring peace to the souls of others when there is no peace in our own? He that careth not lor his own soul, can he care for the souls of others? My, brothers, the words of the greatest orator can accomplish nothing lasting if he does not believe wthat he says, if his words do not spring from the depths of liis being. He may be listened to and applauded, but his influence is transitory. People - 'hear 'him gladly," but they will not "do many things" because of what lie says. We must begin, as Christ tells us, as little children, confessing our sins to God our Father and seeking forgiveness for ourselves before we can bring His peace to others. This is not a narrow and selfish conception of salvation. We do not stop at our own forgiveness and rest complacently on our oars, thinking we 'have already reached the haven where we would be. Our aim is universal peace in the inner life of man, wihicJi, when it is attained, will be a full and complete answer to the wide question I have emphasized to-day. But personal forgiveness is the great, the. essential preliminary, for it alone brings peace into the inner life, and that, too, is peace that comeg by the sword. The confession by which we gain forgiveness implies a readiness, a desire of the will to cut-our-sclves off from sin, and God alone knows ■how hard that is. To the man accustomed to daily surrender, can you understand how hard it is to stand -.up and make a fight? "I hate myself, lam disgusted with myself every time I surrender," a man said to me once, speaking especially of the sin of impurity. "Yet I am driven, impelled as it were, to do the thing I loathe in my better moments." What can bring .peace to such a man as that? What but the sword—•the sword of repentance and humiliation, not by accepting defeat and giving up the struggle, and at last persuading ourselves, as so many men do, tihat we can't help such sins—that they are indeed not sins at all but mere abedience to the demands of nature. But by taking the yoke, by bearing the burden of the fight, by accepting the guidance and relying on the power of One who is stronger than ourselves, shall we gain at last through much tribulation, peace for our souls, and shall become strong to bring peace to the souls of others. "Then shall I teach thy ways unto the wicked, and sinners shall be converted unto thee." Is it peace? Yes, at last through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost.