SUNDAY READING.

Taranaki Daily News, 20 November 1915, Page 9 (Supplement)

SUNDAY READING.

' COURAGE. SERMON PREACHED BY VEN. ARCHDEACON EVANS at St. Mary's Church on Sunday, November 14. There is no virtue that appeals more strongly to the public mind to-day than courage. In ordinary times it only manifests itself outwardly and occasionally, in moments of peril or danger, in some great crisis of human experience. The world is profoundly moved at the heroism of Captain Scott and his noble companions, amid the weary wastes of the Antarctic, or impressed at the splendid action of some swimmer plunging into the sea to save a life; or moved at the grand efforts of miners to rescue imprisoned comrades after some underground calamity. The truth seems to be that courage is always present in human life, but its opportunities of manifesting itself are comparatively rare. But since tiiis terrible war was brought upon the world by the infamous egotism and greedy madness of the Prussian military caste, courage has had infinite opportunities of manifesting itself, and has amply taken advantage of those opportunities. Every day, and many times a day, deeds have 'been done worthy of the V.C.; and mostly by men who, before the war, had been leading quiet, unassuming lives in connection with some commercial or industrial venture.

COURAGE INHERENT':

Courage, then, is inherent 111 human hearts, and only needs opportunity to reveal itself. But courage is stimulated and developed by example. We speak of the glorious traditions of the British Army and Navy, and undoubtedly those traditions do create and encourage the latent heroism of the British people. There is not one .heart here that has not bounded with enthusiasm at the splendid courage of our dead young New Zealandeis at the Dardanelles, Jfc has been a revelation to us all that these young men who had never until then known anything of the art of war, should have held themselves so gallantly and covered themselves with such glory in the campaign. The world wonders at them. But their courage was in them all the time; for nothing conies out of man that has not been in him, lying dormant, perhaps, always. And this war has only created the opportunity that brought out all the grand unselfish qualities"in our Xcw Zealanders. Many of them have died for us. And we can never do too much to show our gratitude. And how much of the glorious traditions of the Army and Navy, thus reflected in their young lives, has been learnt from leligion? Who can say how profoundly the life and character of the Divine Redeemer has, all unknown to them, created that unselfish and heroic spirit now animating our young soldier 9 V Is is impossible to say. And yet one can believe.rthat the great spring of most heroism of the war has come from the wonderful character of Jesus, that, with all our imperfections, is still held up before men.

WONDERFULLY ATTRACTIVE. There is something so wonderfully attractive in courage. A few weeks ago we celebrated another anniversary of Trafalgar, that great victory no years ago that helped to break the old military tyranny and gave us the freedom of the sea. No one can think of that victory without remembering that small, delicate man with only one arm and one eye, fearlessly walking the quarterdeck of his ship, while above him flew that great signal that always rallies Britishers. Xo one felt it more than the man whose genius won that victory. To-day, behind all our fleet's activities, stands the heroic figure of Nelson. And at the back of all ouv Christian experience stands the Divine Master, Jesus Christ. Behind all the activities and sufferings 0 f the Christian Church for nineteen centuries stands this heroic figure. Fearless in the great conflict of the ages, showing sublime courage in the fight against the power of evil; Man's Advocate in the eternal controversy with Satan and sin; the Grand Fountain from which flows that Christian courage that must eventually conquer the world As you study the life of Jesus yon must have constantly m mmd His twofold nature. We shail not understand its bearing upon our own common experience if we forget it for we shall either think of Him as a mere man, suffering human woes; or as a God, apparently suffering while really liftin n from above the sorrows of humanity. We need a Saviour Champion who is so absolutely human as to have all possible sympathy with human kind. And we need One truly Divine, to lift us out of the thraldom of sin. Such a one we have in Jesus. Because He is truly a man, He can place His hand upon the trembling heart of humanity. And because He is truly God He can touch the power and majesty of the Divine. Because He was made man of the Virgin Mary, His He can be an eternal pattern for man. And because He is "very God, begotten of His Father before the world began," He can inspire man to copy that pattern. THE DIVINE REDEEMER. As a perfect man our Divine Redeemer stands before the world for all that is best and noblest in man; His .glorified human nature for ever by assuring it for our salvation. He took of the poor, sombre things of our earthly, life, and touched them with the beauty of Heaven He. manifested 011 earth what the true perfections of our nation would be in glory. Let us, then, try to think of our 01 ' d not only as the manifestation 0 f tlie Divine in the human, hut as the inaiiifejiation of the human at its best, and is Cod intended it to be. He took of the various characteristics inherent in human nature, and bestowed upon them an added dignity and beautv. He gave fuller expression to what had been only paitially or inadequately expressed before. And so Tie moved through the ages as the perfect man. Jesus was the realisation of what was in the mind of Cod when He made mail. He was Divine thought materialsed, and 111 that Ciiaractcr he stands as our Representative. When llie Divine Father wants to realise mail, fie does so in Jesus Christ And if we want to realise God we must tin it in and through the Divine I\edeeine™ The master musician gives expression to what he feels of the rhythm of sweel sounds by the glorious 1

[ composition lie creates. And the master painter declares his conception 0/ Nature by the scenes upon bis canvas. And so Jesus is the manifestation of what (Joil meant when He made man and breathed into Ilia nostrils the breath of life, and said: "ft is very good." And this is how the Divine Father was aliTe to look down into the human life of Jesus, into His character, into Ills conduct (alas! the only one in all the world), and say, "This is my beloved Son, m Whom "i am well pleased." Does that Father see us all in Him? If we are to please Cod surely it must be by our resemblance to Him Who is the expression of the Divine will in human life , This explains what St. John meant when lie savs: "lie that hath the Son hath life." The only real life 'before God is that which has for its pattern and model the perfect character of the mail Jesus Christ, looking to Him, trusting in Him. As St. Paul says: "We all, upholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord and. changed into the same image, from glory to glory." Let us try, then, to meditate upon'this one particular characteristic of our Lord, His sublime courage; and it may be that we Surselves, and probably unknown to ourselves, may have that same virtuoglowing and growing in us.

THE COURAGE OF JESUS.

Consider briefly the courage of Jesus under throe conditions: (1) In loneliness; (2) in foreknowledge; (3) in suffering. (1) In loneliness.—ln a sense we all lead lonely live; for there is dim silence in the inner soul of man. Hut our loneliness is softened for us by the kind- . liess and sympathy of kindred spirits. ' But Jesus had no kindred spirit in the , sense in which we have them. He was always misunderstood, Ilis words carried little of their deeper meaning even to His friends. His own family thought Him mad; His own country disowned Him; His own disciples forsook Him and fled in the hour of Even those who wanted to come closer to Him were prevented by their sordid and worldly : motives. At the time when nil human ; beings—yes, even the poor brute creatures—'long for the touch of a loving hand, He had none. In His agony in the garden an angel had to comfort Him because no man would do it. Yes; He was a lonely man. The mountain-top saw His solitude. The desert place knew how far apart from man lie was. In the midst of His disciples He had to confess, "I am alone." And yet can we find one word of repining? Is there one thought of turning back on that hard aiul lonely road? No! It could not be, because His great heart was so brave. (■2) In foreknowledge.—Happily this is not given to us, and it is a splendid providence. People sometimes wish to look into the future; they crowd to those designing persons who profess to know. Tliey fecl glad and sad according to their silly and untrue statements, while all the time it is our greatest blessing not to know. Why should we know of sickness, sadness and loss years before they come? Will knowledge help us to bear them when they come? No; it will rather sap our strength and unfit us to meet them. If you thank God for anything, thank Him for denying you the gift of foreknowledge. liut Jesus knew from the beginning all that should come upon Him. He literally lived under "the shadow of the Cross." It ia no meaningless use of words to say, "TTe knew all things from the beginning." In the days of popularity He knew of His rejection. In the day of crowds and | blessings He heard the taunts and curses, i But that did not deter Him from carrying out the work He came todo. He sighed as He worked some notable miracle, because He knew the tongue lie loosed would curse Him, and the hand which He gave power would nail Him to the cross. And His wonderful courage was divinely shown in His dealings with individuals around Him, He knew the cunning and malignity of many who came with questions to catch Him in His words, yet He considered them with serene courtesy. He knew the disciple who would sell Him for a paltry sum, yet He never dill'ered in Ilis attitude towards him. No one knew by look or word who the traitor was. Even at the last supper no one knew but St. John. It requires superhuman courage to do this. To feel a vulture's claw when you take the hand of a man, to treat with respect and kindness people you knew are disloyal and untruthful and contemptible. This requires a divine courage. And Jesus knew all this and never flinched, because His great heart was, so brave. (o) In suffering.—He had no immunity from pain. Nay, because of the finer fibre of His nature pain must have been more intense. I need not dwell upon His sufferings. You have thought of them a thousand times.' But we can never know their depths, the indignity, the scourging, the cross, the long hours of dying. Do you hear Him complain? Only that sad cry of a breaking heart, "If it be possible," followed by the echo of the brave spirit, "•Nevertheless, not as I will, Yes, in the garden secretly and on the Cross on high, He taught His brethren he inspired To suffer and to die" because His brave heart was so brave! H. C, Benson says in one of his beautiful books, "The Silent Isle": "The only way to make other people good is to be i good oneself in such a way that other people want to be good, too." That is the way in which Jesus makes the world good. He was grand in such a way that makes all men who see Him truly wish to be like Him. Who would not wish to exhibit the same sublime courage in passing the various trials of life, to be cheerful in adversity, to be serene in temptation and loneliness, to be loving in the face of malignity, to be silent under the mighty hand of God? Let us go. then, and learn of Jesus Christ! For He says, "I am meek and lowly in heart; and je shall find rest to your souls."