SUNDAY READING

Taranaki Daily News, 30 December 1916, Page 6

SUNDAY READING

PEACE SUNDAY. SEKMOX .1:1!KAC'llKl) ISY KKV. A. 11. COLVILJ'.? M.A., lit St. Mury's Church, Now Plymouth, on .Sunday before Christmas. ! ''Glory to God in the lii«!iest, on j earth pence."—St. Luke 11,, 14. | l'eac-e on earth! We stand on the threshold of Christmas Day, and the sound of the Christmas carol; is in - 'our ears, and we near again the song of the angels that heralded the birth of aur Lord. "On earth peace'"—to some the song may seem this Christmas Day faint anil unreal, like "the echoes from an alien shore." There were some among ns who six months ago cherished the delusion that on this Christmas Day pence would be an accomplished fact, that there would he a run through to victory, a swift and sudden collapse of all resistance to our arms and a complete submission opening the way to a just and lasting peace. And this is the third Christmas, since the war began, anil peace on earth is still a long way off, and it will come no nearer and no quicker because of our wishes and desires and sentiments; nay, if we allow wishes and sentiments to sap our resolution, to weaken our will, if they tempt us to relax our efforts, if they persuade us that we have done our share and no more sacrifice is needed, if they make u; "tired of the w.ar," then the day for witich we long, the day of peace on earth, will he further off than ever. Beware, my friends, of false dawns; heware of counterfeit coins such as the one which the, enemy lfas recently tried to pass on us through the Bank of Neutrality, -tind which has been so rightly and so contcmptuouslv rejected. Beware, too, of a too facile optimism which believes what it wants to believe, oi premature rejoio'.ngs, of shouting and cheering befoxe ill'.' end has come. Peace, on earth is deal more than a Christinas sentiment; it is a great deal more than a legal or semi-legal arrangement between nations secured by a system of shifting guarantees, the result of an elaborate diplomacy. Such a peace as that might be arranged in a R-.v weeks, but it would not be Christ's peace; it. would not make for the peace oi 'i'h;:.'h the angels sang. That peace is till' ultimate purpose of God for the world, and there is no short cut, to it. It means a moral and spiritual atmosphere iu which war with all the bitter antagonisms out of which it springs, and all the fierce hatreds in which ii issue*, would lie simply impossible, an atmosphere in which the very thought ot war would perish stillborn. And tllia

TRUE AND LASTING AND UNIVERSAL PEACE ■ - can only be realised when in the fulness of time there is peace in the heart of man towards his Go.d, when he gains the great victory over self and lays down the arms of his rebellion, when lie recognises the will of Hod as his own highest good, and owns the Child of Bethlehem as his Master and his King. That is the peace of Cod, which Jesus brought to the world. "Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace." My friends, the song of the angels which has been familiar to us since the days of our childhood, which brings back to us the memory of happier Chrislmases than this, that song does not falter and fail this Christmas Eve. Nav, it rises triumphant over the crash of shot and shell, and shrills high above the red ruin of war, lor it tells and proclaims His .everlasting purpose. God's purpose is our peace, and God cannot fail. Let us remember that ; lot I us lay fast hold of that. His "neverfailing provide/ice ordereth all things in heaven and earth," and though the word He speaks to Us this Christmas tin'le be not the word of immediate peace, though the message to our nation still gripped in a struggle of which the issues are life or death is "endure unto the end," yet we can feel the thrill of Christmas ivhicli the song of the angels brings to us, for it bids us lay up in our hearts the hope of great things to come; it bids us thank our God for His revelation of love in, the coming of Jesus Christ, that He has planted in the wilderness of the world that Tree of life, the leaves of which shall be for the healing of the nations.

Now this is "Peace Sunday,'' and for some years past it has been so observed by the Church, and the clergy have been specially asked to'speak to their congregations on that subject. "Peace Sunday''—and to-day we are making still greater efforts to prosecute the war. The Government of our country has—very wisely, in my opinion—decided on a measure of compulsion without Wasting time and money in tlfe taking of a referendum. Democratic' governments are not as a rule strong governments. They don't like grasping a nettle; they will evade unpleasant things as long as 'possible, and in this respect they are not unlike the general body of citizens, lint when men realise that they are involved in a struggle for very existence, tliev are forced, even in spite of themselves, to face facts as they are. When a fact has got us by the throat, when .we know that we must either close with it or let it choke the life out of us, then it is 110 longer possible to play fast and loose with it, and it is almost inconceivable folly and stupidity to attempt to do so. To fight at a time like this for our own personal interests, or foi our class interests, or for the interests of. our own comfort, to live still on old theories about rights and privileges which may be all very well and cTo 110 harm in quiet- normal times, hut which at- u time like this are both childish and dangerous; to create a war within a war, is to be a traitor to the cause of humanity and to the cause of God. The Government-, appreciating the gravity of the situation, has done the right tiling and the brave tiling—aye, and the thing that makes for peace—and deserve in this matter our whole-hearted sympathy and support.

CQXScb.XTIOUS OBJECTORS. But, and here comes the question I wnnt to touch on this evening, there are men some of whom are neither hypocrites nor shirkers who honestly and conscientiously believe that it is wrong and contrary to the teaching of Christ to use physical force to resist ■ 1 vil. that peace means an attitude of •"ifessence. the turning of the cheek to smiter, and that Jesus Christ, who Himself "led as a lamb to the slaughter" taught Mis followers that tl < v must never under any circum- :' uCvS inflict bodily injury on their •Vliovvs. The only sort of force permisib'.e, they believe, is moral force, the ■'liat we call "physical" must never ( .i my cirinimatance b'. used. How""'SK'ng '(siaed such ;er>ule may be

very best example of such an attitude is that expressed by a young man actually serving a t the front as reported by one of the. chaplains. He said: '\l feel 'I must do my bit for the Old Country along with the others; we are all up against ii, and 1 just cannot hang back while other men are being'smashed and killed in a cause that is as much mine as theirs. I'ut 1 am quite welt aware that what 1 am doing is not Christ.;-.-.-,, but the very opposite, if we are to .So what Jesus Christ told us'to ,lo."

Now, is this really so? It is.a question that should frankly and 'honestly be faced, for this man who foualit and yet believed that he was doing wrong was no onward or shirker;- There are certain Quakers whose principles forbid them to light who from the beginning of the war have been engaged in the dangerous service of mine-sweeping in the North Sea, and others who wilf not shoulder a nlle who are ready to art as stretcher-bearers and fearlessly hazard their own lives picking up the wounded in the face of the enemies' guns. Such people are entitled to our respect, though if everyone thought as they do our nation would be lying crushed at the feet of Germany 'to-day. Well, this is Peace Suiuhly, and here is a question suggested to us: "Can a true follower of the Prince of Peace use what is called physical force on the battlefield or indeed anywhere to injure or take tly< life of an enemy';'' Well? fie words of .lesiis Christ seem plain enough—"Love your enemies, resist not evil, turn the other cheek to the smiter," but when we think of the Gospel as a whole we can understand that they referred to the avenging of personal affronts. We know that °

CHRIST HIMSELF USED PHYSIC 4L FORCE, reinforced with n scourge of cords, to uphold the honor of the Temple and of God. But He knowing the heart of miin, knowing how nrone man is to meet evil with evil, to li.'t hack when injured, to bite back when slandered, to scratch back when unjustly and meanly criticised, He gave us that command, "Resist not evil," and here every man stands or falls to hi-s own conscience. But our Lord never told us to turn someone else's cheek to the smiter, to look on while pledges were broken, or people weaker than ourselves crushed and enslaved, to allow ty-great trampling force, ot evil to tlirotfle out. the life of all who could not \rcsist it, to create a solitude and, call it peace, that was vcrv far from the mind of our Lord. And mark this, every man who admits that lie would not stand by tamely and see lus own home destroyed and his own women insulted, but would use physical force in their defence, has loe'ieallv abandoned his position of conscientious objector to resistance, for that is exactly what our soldiers are fighting against to-day. They are using physical force to protect the honor and life rt»id liberty of others, that there may be true peace, and not a dreary solitude in every home in the land, physical force may not be and is not the ideal means of settling disputes; as a norma! method of advancing the world's progress it would be a dangerous and disastrous mistake, but, as most of us know, there are times when it is necessary, when we cannot do without it. Every wise parent recognises this, and many spoilt and undisciplined children to-day testify to the mistaken sentimentalism which' has withheld it. Every State recognises it; the whole of our criminal law'rests ultimately on physical force, and the time has not arrived when we can do without it. Why should we make so sharp a distinction between

MORAL FORCE AXD PHYSICVL FORCE? Moral force, which includes the power of influence of nil kinds may be the most immoral thing in the world, and physical force the most beneficent. Mr. fi. K. Chesterton has this illustration: "A clever profligate who calmly and deliberately poisons the mind of an innocent girl is using moral, force (in the sense of influence non-physical). The girl's father, who kicks that man out of the house, is using physical force." -Vow, you might sny that to kick a man is in itself wrong, but would you think it worse than moral seduction? Would Christ have said that that father ought to have given up another daughter to tlie, corrupter by way of turning the other cheek, that there might be, peace and quiet in the heme? Or ought li« to have taken the man into his study and talked nicely and morally to him to induce him to give up his purpose? Why, you might .just as well talk morals to an alligator who was opening its jaws to devour a child as to cx'pect to influence such a man by anything short of physical force. No, my friends, physical force will always he necessary until the world becomes.,a perfect place and evil has no longer a footing in the hearts of men. And there arc times when nhysical, force is a good thing and t jffiTegua tbijog and a- hgly frhipjty and

the only way to a peace worth having, which means life and liberty and the chance of development for all men. The Christian ideal is still that of the angel song at the birth of the world's Redeemer, "filory to God, on earth peace, good-will among men," .but that song begins with "Ulorv to Cod." As long as tyranny and oppression and cruelty remain to sully the .glorv of ;iod and resist His will there must be in the last resort the appeal to physical force, the ordeal bv battle.

So we would say to those wlio honestly feel that they would be doing wrong to serve their country in arms at this crisis of our history, "We respect your scruples, we would not sneer at your conscience, nor doubt your personal courage; we, like you, detest the very thought of war; we believe that in itself it is a horrible thing and an ugly thing, but we believe, too, that it is not the will of Cod that evil shall rule the world, and that we have arrived at si'ch a pass that only physical force will prevail to destroy ' it." Christ would never bid us hold back from sacrifice while the weak and helpless suffered. It, is due to our humanity, to the dignity and worth of the soul, to our honor not only ao men but as Christians, to suffer and to die rather than sneak out of our responsibility crying peace when there is no peace and when the righteousness of Cod is being betrayed Into the hands of evil. If we fight in this spirit; if we go out in Cod's name and ill no lower name; if we are ready to say first of all and last of all, ''Xot unto us, 0 Lord, not unto us. but unto Thy name give the prai=e," then we can bPlieve that whether we live or die the world will be better and purer for our sacrifice, and the dawn of Christ's great peace will b'e nearer. Let us then give ourselves freely to our country for Cod and His glory, for Christ and His honor, for man and his salvation, and then even before the end His peace shall quiet our hearts in the midst of war's alarms, and we shall rest in Cod knowing that all will he well both here and beyond the grave.