SUNDAY READING.

Taranaki Daily News, 1 July 1922, Page 9

SUNDAY READING.

VITAL VIRTUES. NO. 2.—COURAGE. ? s “Wait on £he Lord; be of good, courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart; yea, wait thou on the Lord-” : —Psalm xxvii. 14. (By Rev. A. H. Collins, New Plymouth.) Courage is one of the central and cardinal virtues of humanity. All the world chants its praises- Everybody who is anybody admires courage even if he does not possess it. Hence eyery mythology has its “Hercules”; every history its “Wallace” or its “Clive”; everj’ poet its “Arthur” or its “Lancelot.” There is almost nothing men will not forgive in the man who is conspicuously brave. Even the brute beasts are ranked according to this quality, and the bravest are the aristocracy of the jungle. People sometimes make a jest of truth and honor and modesty, but none make jest of courage. One reason why war continues, in spite of its horror and its unreason, is that it is supposed to be the school of courage. From Joshua to Jesus, the commonest command of Holy Writ is: “Fear not; only be thou strong and very courageous. Add to your faith courage-” THE WHY AND THE WHEREFOR.

When we ask the why and the wherefor of this, two answers lie ready to hand. One is the universal need. For there is no age or condition in life when it is not required that we stiffen our upper lip and keep a firm grip on our nerves. In youth we admire the showy virtues, the brilliant gifts, the loud acclaim, but as the years slip past we ■change our. estimate, and come to see that Dickens was right that “it is dogged that does it,” and that better' than brilliance, and more than a spurt of dash, is the power to hold on and hold out, the quiet, unheralded doing of the daily task. There is one courage of the sports field, another of the home, another of the office, another of the Senate, another of the Church. We need courage to be patient, courage to be kind, courage to be truthful, courage to speak out, and courage to lock our lips in silence. We need courage to face the future, courage to forget the past, courage to live, and courage to meet the great adventure called death. Courage is sometimes seen in “a glorious indiscretion,” and cowardice may lurk behind the word “tact,” but in one form or another we need fortitude from youth to sunset and evening star- But the finest courage is not showy and spectacular; it Round* no trumpets at the street corners, and calls no attention to itself. It is quiet and unobtrusive as day dawn. I grant you there are occasions when this quality flashes into dramatic splendour, crowded hours of life that are worth an age without a name. The soldier stops amid the iron hail of death to save a comrade; the fireman fights his way up the ladder and through the smoke to rescue e. child; the plain citizen leaps to grasp the head of a runawav horse, and we catch our breath and then cry “Bravo!” But these are exceptions. OPEN SECRET OF COURAGE.

I mentioned military exploits, but, without detraction of the “gunpowder and glory business,” I dare say that it is the modest, the- cheerful, the unconscious heroism that moves us most. For the open secret of courage is selfforgetfulness. Just as the secret of happiness is not to think about it, so the secret of bravery is to forget there is such a thing, and just do your duty, whatever that may be. Do you suppose David, when he slew the lion and. the bear, ever dreamed that he was a hero? Not he- It was his shepherd duty to defend his flock, and he did it in fine neglect of self. "When Captain Oates slipped, quietly out of the fly of his tent, to die in the Antarctic snow, rather than embarrass his comrades, they built a cairn of stones, and wrote: "Somewhere hereabouts lies a very gallant gentleman”; and there he rests in the white light immortal, a silent hero. But why will men do such things? Because, in the long ago, Christ came in splendid self-renunciation and made His life an essay on uncalculating bravery, made courage epidemic. The second reason is that courage is the mother of many virtues. Like the electric current that serves many ends, lights and warms our homes, drives our cars, rings our bells, carries our messages, and heals our sick, so courage takes many forms. In one man it is seen in superb patience, in another it is seen as dogged veracity, in another it takes the form of incorruptible purity, in yet another inviolable silence. Track the weaknesses and wickedness of men home, and in how many instances it is due to lack of nerve. Track virtue to its source, and you will find the secret in courage- There is no final failure to the man who dares, and there is no far shining success to the man who lets “I dare not wait upon; I would.” To be able to say:

“I dare do all that may become a man, Who dares do more is none.” THE CONQUEST OF FEAR. Not to tremble at looming shadows that lie ahead; not to shirk the unwelcome task; not to give in when things look hopeless; not. to sacrifice principle to policy; not to “trim” and “fence,” and ‘■'compromise,” is the high read to music and a crown. “This is the victory that overcometh the world, even your faith,” and faith means moral audacity. But just as courage is.not spectacular, neither is it insensibility. Courage is not the a.bsence of fear, but the conquest of fear. In the presence of danger one man's heart wi'll thump his ribs like a trip hammer, while another man isn’t conscious of a quickened pulse, yet the former may be the braver man of the two. j Two young fellows were climbing a tall 5 cliff, and the cheeks of one blanched ; white- His companion said: “Why, Ido believe you are afraid?” “Yes, I am,” was the answer; “if you were half as I much afraid, you would go home.” The ! courageous man is he who, though he trembles, pushes on. It is the way a man grapples with his trembling that marks i the difference between the weak and the strong. Now it may be justly argued that courage is not exclusively a Christian

fn battle, if indifference to death, be the marks of courage, then the inflexible Roman stoic, the Mahdist of the Soudan, and the Indian braves, supply examples of fortitude equal to the Christian martyr and Crusader. Hardened criminals have made it their boast to “die gamd.” Charles the First of England was never brave enough to be truthful, but he died with a dignity and gallantry that almost exalted him into a hero. A Royalist leader boasted he could make his men do anything. “How will you do it?” was demanded- “Plenty of drink,” was the cynical reply. The story reached the Puritan camp. “We, too, can make our men do anything,” said one of the leaders. “How so?” he was asked. “Plenty of prayer,” was the reply. The two answers mark two conceptions of courage. CHRISTIAN COURAGE. There is a courage that is very largely constitutional and temperamental, and there is a courage that is moral and spiritual. Addison discriminates when he writes: “Courage that grows from constitution often forsakes a man when he has occasion for it. Courage which arises from a sense of duty acts in a uniform manner.” But whilst courage is not exclusively Christian, it is pre-eminently, and in iVs finest form and issue, a product of the Christian religion. The courage that is pagan is chiefly concerned with physical pain, suffering and death. Christian courage is concerned, with fidelity to righteous principle at all hazard. The savage gives honor to the man who dies well, the Christian honors the man who lives well. To speak with truth, to act with honor, to yield to no unworthy motive, to dare unpopularity for conscience sake, to be unashamed and unafraid to pay the debt we owe to home and Church, to ibrave the cheap sneer at simple piety, to defy Mrs. Grundy and live straight and clean, is more than to “go over the top” in a headlong charge when the guns begin to play; and for this you need to be Christian. If you asked a pagan.his impressions of the life of Christ, he might say, how loving, how patient, how serene, how radiant He was, but would a pagan ever say how brave Christ was? Yet was there ever one so' superbly brave as He who went smiling to the Cross? For the patience, the serenity, and the roxliancy of Jesus Christ were His matchless courage in disguise, and the virtue I am commending to you is the virtue that lives in humble homes, walks dingy streets, discharges 1 humdrum tasks with kingly calm, the courage that anoints its head and washes its face that it might not appear to men to fast, then goes to its crucifixion in such calm and smiling fashion that 1 others scarcely suspect the existence of a cross at all. But the open sesume of such high and noble living is to have an abiding sense of God, and a brave committal of the soul to His sovereign sway. THE NEED OF -SHE HOUR- ’ I have said that there is no age or sphere where courage ;s not demanded. But will any deny it is the peculiar need of the hour? I do not say' this is “a nerveless and epineless age/’ But the world’s nerves are rackety. Not a little of the trouble in Europe is due to “nerves.” Society is neurotic because it is exhausted and feverish; it is suffering from a kind of scarlet fever of the sou]. Religion has lost its calm and victorious faith that God “site above the waterfloods.” We need to hear God saying: “Be still and know that I am God.” “In uietness and confidence is your strength.” For Church and State the call is-, threefold. The courage to forget, the courage to live, the courage to avow. THE COURAGE TO FORGET.

Robertson, of Brighton, has a great sermon under the title: “Progress by Oblivion of the Past,” from the text, “Forgetting the Things which are Behind,” and there is no progress possible without that. Europe should forget and forgive- Our statesmen should break with the bad past in secret diplomacies, old national jealousies and vain trust; “in reeking tube and iron shard,” and be willing to try, a new way of openness, fraternity and peaceableness. Society should turn from its silly frivols and gross indecency, and begin to walk and Work with some regard for dignity. The Church must recover her trust in Spiritual methods of doing Spiritual work.

COURAGE TO LIVE. Tf we are prepared to be simple in our tastes and our pleasures, we can still live a rich and rounded life, and serve the Kingdom of God. There is no need to despair, no need to whine, no need to think of calling in the services of the undertaker. Live! Live at the top bent. Courage grows easier as life goes on- A child begins by fearing many things because it knows but few. Every shadow is a fearsome spectre, and every dark room is full of ghosts, but I have ceased to fear ghosts because I have seen so many and found that most of them are nothing worse than a hollow turnip with a lighted candle inside! God is very ■kind, and as life advances, though the ardours of life cool, the experience of life teaches us to be calmer, and at last to face the greatest adventure of all, saying: “I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me.” COURAGE TO AVOW. Courage to pledge yourself to Christ and the things for which He lived and died; and this not because it is easy, but because it is brave and manly and right. Courage to kneel in His Holy Presence, and swear lifelong loyalty to Him. Courage to say: “Laid on Thine altar, 0 my Lord Divine, 1 Accept this gift to-day for Jesus’ sake; i I have no jewels to adorn Thy shrine. No far famed sacrifice to make; But here within my trembling hand 1 bring This will of mine—a thing that seemeth small, But Thou, O Lord, canst understand. How, when I yield Thee this, I yield i mine all.