'PEACE ON EARTH!'

Taranaki Daily News, 24 December 1915, Page 11 (Supplement)

'PEACE ON EARTH!'

(SERMOX PREACHED AT ST. MARY'S CHURCH, New Plymouth, on Sunday, December 19, by REV. A. H. OOLVILE, M.A.

''Finally, brethren, whatsoever things Me true, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report . . . think on these things."—Phil, iv., 8.

And the man who wrote those words was no amiable dreamer or soft-handed sentimentalist; neither was he a man of wealth and taste who could use his riches, as a screen to shut off from his •ight the world's pain and the hard ugliness of so many of the facts of practical life, If he had been we couid have passed ovfr his advice with a.'smile -~r with an impatient shrug of the shoulders; it is ao easy to be an optimist when you have never been up against anything really hard; so easy to think of pleatant things when you have never encountered anything unpleasant; so easy to paint life in beautiful colors when you have the means to protect yourself tram what is sordid and ugly and disquieting. The optimism of a rich or •hallow or inexperienced person would make little or no impression on us, and -would. indeed, and often does, rouse feel- .- -log* of bitterness and irirtation. But tba man who wrote those words was a nan Who. had lived every day of his life, and lived hard; a man who had known poverty and want and disappointment and failure, who had seen much of the .wickedness of the world, of the cruelty : and injustice of man towards man, who had faced the violence and blasphemy of ignorant "mobs, and the bitter sneers and teoffs of cultured philosophers. He who . iiad bad so much experience of what was evil besought those whom he loved, those whoie spiritual welfare he had so warm--Jy at.heart, to dwell above all on th( tilings that.were good. All his experi- ■ enee of evil had not robbed him of his belief In truth and purity and beauty. ■ his knowledge of the world had not made him a pessimist. My friends, we are living through a time when perhaps it is harder for us than we ever thought possible to follow St. PauVs advice, and see things true and pure and lovely and of a good report in the world in which we live. Think for a moment; this is the Sunday before Christmas Day, when we are all preparing to welcome Him Who was spoken of (by the prophets as "The Prince of Peace." Who was heralded by the angels as He Who should bring "peace on earth." For some years back this day has been observed as "Peace Sunday.'' The clergy have been asked to epeak to their congregations of the great ideal of universal peace and brotherhood, and how far do we seem, from it to-day T So far from lessening in force and volume, the war is .spreading until it seems that no country iiuthe world will be untouched by its horror or exempt from its scourge. Our own battle line is more "far-flung" than ever before in our history; More of our gallant men have kid down their lives, more of out brave women are bereaved and desolate, and still remorselessly, relentlessly, like some inhuman machine, the horrible thing goes on.

What caii a preacher say now on the : subject of-peace? How threadbare the I old well-worn platitudes appear! How ; , far off.-thj old ideals of universal broth- j erhood! Are we not all agreed that a j patched-up peace at the present moment would be worse even than the continuance of this dreadful and dangerous war? flow can there be any profitable talk of peace until the great enemy of freedom and progress be rendered harmless for the future? That "ship of peace" from America, which coming to -Europe at Christmas sime might, you would think hare been received with sympathy and " Teapect, has merely excited the laughter of the civilised world, though it is a laughter "With a touch of sadness in it. If it were possible, we would welcome peace however it came, even through the fantastically impossible medium of an American 'millionaire. But we all recognise'that a patched-up compromise at the present moment would be no true peace, that to acquiesce in such a thing would be to be untrue not only to ourselves, but also to our Allies, whose sacrifices are at lea3t as great as our own, but to the whole world and to that God in Whom we put our trust, for Whose caose, as I reminded you last Sunday, Vt are bearing arms to-day. No; we feel rather the spirit of. the strenuous Hebrew general who to the timid question of the degenerate king, "Is it peace, Jehu?" replied fiercely, "What peace, so ■ long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezefeel and her witchcrafts are so ' many?" So we reply in our hearts today; "What peace, so long as violent aggression flourishes, and crimes go unpunished, and the world's progress is blocked, and a ruthless power shakes its sword over the world, and we still stand within its danger." But while in every corner of our Empire the courage and resolution of our people remain firm, yet we cannot get away from the thoughts that Christmas brings, nor surely would we wish to. The very soldiers fighting in the trenches ■ could not, ynu remember, get away from Christmas. I.ast year a sort of informal truce was held on Christmas Day, the soldiers themselves apparently taking ■ the matter into their own hands. "Just after dark on Christmas Eve," one soldier wrote home, "the Germans began shouting to us in English and German, 'A happy Christmas!' and asking us to come •V over and see them." The writer goes ; on to describe how the British and German soldiers began to show themselves above the trenches, and presently to make their way to the open spaces be- - tween and to fraternise with each other, sharing tobacco and other luxuries and shaking hands. They could not get away from the influence of Christmas Day. No

, doubt thoughts of happy Christmases spent in the past in their own quiet homes, among their families and friends, '■■■ when they had thanked God for His goodwill towards men—no doubt such thoughts brought to them on the battlefield the desire to forget for a time all causes for hatred or fear or revenge, and constrained theni to think on the things true and pure and lovely, which were associated in their minds with the Messing of peace. This "truce of God," my friends, we might well observe In our own thought} this Christmas time; we might well try to banish from our minds all mental suggestions that would make our hearts hari and unrelenting to our f oe a—gye, if only for a short time we may keep the truce oi God, and when yre pray we may remember all who have goffered In this war, all out enemies, - thousands of whom are quite as innocent as ourselves of ever planning it or wishjag for it; without weakening our own resolution in the least we can remem- ; toer them Without bitterness —nay, with kindliness and sympathy—their women Waiting in anxiety at home, their children longing for a safe return; we can ■ . think of those who will never go back nor see their homes again; we «in let our thought* go tip to God in goodwill toward* them and-feel the old Christmas

spirit touching our lives once more. "Cleanse, 0 Lord, the thoughts of our hearts this Christmas time, -by the inspiration of Thy Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love Thee and worthily magnify Thy Holy Name." And surely, my friends, there are "things of good report" shining out through the horror and ugliness of war on which wc can rightly and profitably let our thoughts dwell at this season. Jesus Christ once startled His disciples' by declaring that He came not to send peace on earth, but a aword. He came indeed not only as a Prince of Peace, but as a Man of War. He came to fight the powers of evil, to free mankind from its thraldom, to destroy the works of the devil, and I believe that until the power of evil 'be destroyed, war, even the war that means the consecrated use of physical force, will sometimes be inevitable. It is the price men have to pay not only for their sins and mistakes, but for their ideals and their beliefs. But see now the example of our Loid. His fight against evil meant the discovery, the bringing to light of things true and pure and lovely, and of a good report in the world and In the lives of men, courage of soul—that "proud precipitance" always on edge for a great adventure, the passion for righteousness that will not count the cost, self-sacri-fice even to the death, a strong and burning love for the cause of truth and justice, aye, and a deep love for others, even for enemies, things that have transfigured the world and ennobled the lives of nen; and these are the things true and lovely and of good report that, thank God, war does bring out in the character in spite of all the unspeakable horror of its ericmnstances. These are, the things on which we are to "think."

The late Mr. Lecky, in his "History of European Morals," says: "That which invests war, in spite of all the evils which attend it, with a certain moral grandeur, is the heroic self-sacrifice which it elicits. With perhaps the single exception of the Church, it is the sphere in which mercenary motives have least sway, in which disinterested enthusiasm has most scope. A battlefield is the scene of deeds of self-sacrifice so transcendant. and at the same time so dramatic, that in spite of all its horrors and crimes it awakens the most passionate moral enthusiasm."

Yes, my friends, it is true. We have been thrilled at the many "good reports" we have had of men of all nations from the battlefields of Europe. We have seen things true and pure and lovely coming out in the lives of those whom the war has touched most hardly. We have felt our own spirits strengthened by the great deeds of men who might in normal times have lived dull, selfish, uninspired lives. We cannot doubt that God has been with them, that Christ has touched them, that His Holy Spirit has inspired them. Shall we not "think of these things"? Are we to look only on the horrors of war that would make, us shudder and perhaps despair, and refuse to dwell on what will strengthen our faith and hope for all mankind?, Among the many great deeds tliat have won the Victoria Cross I choose to remind you of this, which comes to us with a Bpecial force and significance at Christmas time. Some Germans attacked a British trench and were repulsed with heavy loss. Retiring, they took with them all but one of their wounded, whom they overlooked. A comrade came into the open to rescue him but fell under a score of British bullets. The British officer gave the order to cease fire. Then he himself advanced to tlif rescue of the wounded German, but hr was struck by several German bullets. Then the German officer ordered his men to cease fire. The British officer carried the wounded man to the German trenches, where he saluted and handed him over to his friends. Saluting in turn, the German officer sprang from his trench, took off his own Iron Cross and pinned it on the breast of his brave enemy. The British officer gained his own lines, but died of his wounds before he could receive the Victoria Cross, for which he was recommended.

A simple, unemotional account of a great act of heroism. Not "war," perhaps, in the strict sense of the word, but a magnificent product of war, and, myfriends, it Is such things true and pure and lovely and of a good report that bring hope to our hearts this Christmas time. They make us real optimists, not the shallow, unthinking sort that believe what they wish to believe, who like to think comfortable things because thej love comfort, who cry peace when there is no peace; but deep, thoughtful, sane optimists who, like St, Paul, have faced the evil and gripped the good, have realised the terrible, ugly, sordid side of life, but have lived to thank God for what is true and pure and lovely in man, and fixing their minds on these things have gained increasing power and strength for themselves as the Boldiers of Jesus Christ.

Let that spirit be ours, and on Christmas Day we shall find the greatest of all reasons for optimism in the birth of Him Who hoped s 0 much from man that He emptied Himself of all His glory, and came into the world as we came, weak and helpless, that He might touch all that was great, all that was true, all that was of good report to God in the hearts and lives of men.