“RING OUT THE OLD”

Taranaki Daily News, 8 January 1921, Page 11

“RING OUT THE OLD”

“RING IN THE NEW” (Rev. A. H. Collins, New Plymouth.)' Text: “I saw a new heaven and a new earth.”—Rev. XXI., L The great soul who first beheld this vision and proclaimed it in the long ago was one of the world’s saints and seers, and his splendid dream still waits to find fulfilment. To say this will be to condemn him in the eyes of some, who bluntly tell us that nails and screws are solid things, but thoughts and dreams are • airy nothings. But dreamers are the pioneers and pathfinders of truth and reform, the friends and allies of the world’s greatest workers. There is not a great movement of ancient or modern times that was not made possible by the vision and the voice of poets and prophets who had their dwelling in the “house of dreams.” In the first stage the reformer is a seer. Men listen to him with vague misgiving, not unmixed with drdad. They call him “visionary,” “fanatical,” “dangerous,” and when, by dogged persistence, he cuts his way through a crossgrained world, though he reaps the rewards of success, he carries the scars of battle. But thoughts are things, and the dreamers who come to waive the night of waiting and weeping have a knack of finding their fulfilment in the light of common day. “A new heaven and a new earth!” Surely that is a splendid dream a vision to 'be welcomed, and in the out-working of which all good men sholud rejoice. But will it ever Ibe? That it is attractive none will deny; but can we, dare we, hope to see the ideal grow into actual? It is now more than sixty years since Alfred Tennyson, in the full splendour of his great powers, to the world the greatest of his works. In Memoriam” is simply one of /he most victorious songs that Christian poet ever chanted. The stanzas of tnat giorious hymn of hope have done more to hasten the dawn of the new heaven and the new earth than half the practical” folk who sneer at poets and prophets as “mere dreamers,” and think thereby to speak their condemnation, whereas they do but utter their own. Thank God for men and women who “see visions and dream dreams.” That Robert Browning and Alfred Tennyson, the greatest poets of the Victorian era were Christian men who consecrated their genius to social reform, on a Christian basis, is cause for deep gratitude. You will remember how Tennyson sings:—

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky, The flying clouds, the frosty night; The year is dying in the night; Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the slowly dying cause, The ancient forms of party strife, Ring in the nobler modes of life, The sweeter manners, purer laws.

Ring out the want, the care, the sin, The faithless coldness of the times; Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes, But ring the fuller minstrel in.

Ring out false pride, in place and blood, The civic slander and the spite; Ring in the love of truth and right, Ring in the common love of good.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease, Ring out the narrowing lust of gold, Ring out the thousand wars of old, Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Ring in the valiant man and free, The larger heart, the kindlier hand; Ring out the darkness of the land, Ring in the Christ that is to be.

These art strong, wise words, a beautiful dream, and their general adoption would go a long way towards making New Zealand strong, Christian, free. “Ring out the old.” That is the poet’s first note, and it must be ours. But the old, with which he and we are so eager to part—what is it? Are the evils of that day and this the same? The answer must be a regretful “Yes,” for when we turn to the poet’s page it is to discover that the forms of evil which haunted his mind are the evils which oppress and sadden us. If there were evil spirits tormenting the souls of men in the latter half of the nineteenth century they are with us in the opening years of the twentieth century. “The feud of rich and poor,” “the faithless coldness of the times,” the false pride of place and blood,” “the narrowing lust of gold.” All these are with us yet. To-day, as in the olden days, we hear the sound of “civic slander and the spite,” “the ancient forms of party strife,” and these take the place of love and search for the common good. The “old shapes of foul disease,” physical and moral, are still with us, like “the pestilence that walketh in darkness, and the destruction which wasteth at noonday.”

“The thousand wars of old” are still multiplying, “the thousands years of peace” seem far off as ever. The Christ that is, is often hidden behind forms, and creeds, and party strifes. The Christ that is to be is still unknown, unsought, unloved. Yes! 1 “Ring out the old.” Let the dead past bury its dead. Enough of “feuds” and “coldness,” enough of “false pride” and “lust of gold,” enough of “slander,” and “strife,” and “spite.” Ring them out. Ring them out.

And yet it would be unjust and ungrateful to deny that things have improved. It would not be difficult to draw a picture of “Merrie England” in the forties, the contrast of which should make our hearts glad. One has only to recall the condition of the working classes when Shaftesbury entered on his work of reform to see that in some directions the dreamer’s vision is coming true. “Ring in redress of all mankind” is a message that growing numbers hear and heed The fatalism of comfortable selfishness that reclined on soft cushions, and sighed over evils they did nothing to relieve, that rejoiced in abundance, and doled out charity to Lazarus at the gate, that accepted the luxuries of life as the gifts of an all wise Providence, who had chosen them to ease and plenty, and ordained the poor to suffering and want; that spirit is dying with the dying years. Indifference to human sorrow is not as common as it was. Our laws are more humane. Life is sweeter. Vice is less coarse and brutal. The darkness of the land has not passed away, but the clouds are thinning off. The law of Jesus Christ, who bids us show our love to Him, by love of our fellows, is beginning to be practised. “Ring out the old” is a voice that has not wholly cried in vain. The “new heaven and the new earth” are coming, according to the ancient vision and the promises of God, and if in the weariness of hope deferred we say; “How long, 6 Lord! we wait in expectation, In full performance of Thy faithful word, When wilt Thou rule o’er every nation? When ehall the whale earth turn

know the Lord? Our hearts grow sick with hope bo long deferred.” This is the answer:— Fear not! 'the light shines on behind the mist, Although we see it not, the grand design . . Can never fail, since His is power divine, The love of God, the patience of His Christ. It is not possible to emphasise all the points named by the poet, but who can fail to see the need of warning against “the faithless coldness of the time?” For there is still a ponderous mass of indifference that is plainly traceable to this cause alone. Men are not deeply stirred 'because they do not sift the facts and allow the sifted facts to make their due impression. And what a significant phrase that is, “the narrowing lust of gold.” It is not a modern evil alone. It has been rampant in other lands and times than our own'. Jesus Christ, in staggering speech, declared that it was easier for a camel to wriggle through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven, and He meant something serious, you may be sure. But if the evil is not new, it is very real and very pressing, and it needs to be watched. Our New Zealand peril is sot the little yellow man from the Near East. Our “yellow peril” is a yellow coin. The god of the age is gold. Tennyson does iiot condemn wealth. Jesus Christ said nothing against the legitimate use of money, one of the proofs of his amazing grace was this, that,He who was rich for our sake became poor.” But “the narrowing lust of gold” does need watching. The unwise absorption in making money, the determination to make money at all hazards, the spirit leads, men to scrape and hoard, the spirit that contracts human sympathy, that cramps the mind, stunts manhood, starves the heart and leaves no time or energy for the highest things, needs most faithful watching, for its growth is very subtle. But “ring out the old” is only part of the message. “Ring in the new” is necessary to complete it. “Ring out,” “Ring in”! How simple it seems, and yet in truth how hard! “The year is dying, let him die.” .No vain regrets, no idle sorrow; but a brave heart and a new start. Let old feuds, controversies, misjudgments, and misunderstandings and hates go. “Ring out wild bells, and let them go.” “Oh! but the thing is not accomplished that way. “If wishing were horses, 'beggars would ride.”. If wishing made men saints, we should all wear white robes. The new city of God can only be built by new men. Acts of Parliament can do a good many things, but not everything, and if coming years are to be fuller a'nd fairer than the past, the changing years must find us changed. Men may formulate what theories they please about salvation by rosewater, but the evil is too deep-seated to be changed by environment alone If the water in the spring is tainted, a full fresh coat of paint on the pump will not help you very much. Tennyson saw that, and sang it in the noble line “Ring in the Christ that is to be.” In that sentence you have the secret. “Ring in the Christ that is to be.” Adopt His scheme of life, obey His commandments, catch His spirit, seek His help; for that is the* only way to make a new heaven and a new earth.

“Verily I say unto you, ye must be born again,” is the law for individuals and nations