The Dominion SATURDAY, JULY 10, 1926. THINGS OF THE SPIRIT AND THINGS OF THE FLESH

Dominion, Volume 19, Issue 254, 10 July 1926, Page 8

The Dominion SATURDAY, JULY 10, 1926. THINGS OF THE SPIRIT AND THINGS OF THE FLESH

A minister of the Gospel, the Rev. Henry Janies, and a physician, Sir George Newman, addressed their appropriate conferences in Britain this week, and each dealt with the impact of modem conditions on the life and development of the people. The Christian minister focused his attention on the things of the spirit, the physician on the things of the flesh. “Paganism is rife,” declared the minister; “Sunday kinemas and games are increasing, the curse of gambling is stimulated, fiction is steeped in sexuality.” . “England is healthier than ever,” the physician claimed, is more sober, more rational in its dress, more simple in its diet, more cleanly, more fond of games and of open air.” Both of these statements may be perfectly true. They are not inconsistent with each other. Paganism may be rife in a healthy body, Sunday games may increase amongst those who love the open air. The body may be strong and the spirit weak or callous.. These general statements do not help us much, unless w e can legitimately infer that the one set of conditions is the cause of the other—that we should rejoice with the physician and weep with the minister. Sir George Newman acclaims the healthier body and the weekend enjoyment and sea-bathing that ensure it. Mr. James is suspicious. If physique is found and spiritual life lost in that discovery, mankind is under sentence of death. We are forced, to ascertain, therefore, if we can, whether the changes the physician applauds and would encourage, are necessarily the enemy of the spiritual end the minister desires. All observers of London life, especially since the war, agree that there never has been in that great metropolis, such an open display of wealth and luxurious indulgence. The rpodern motorcar has made this possible and even inevitable. In former times the evidences of wealth and indulgence were chiefly confined to homes with sober, almost dingy, facades, and the passing public saw nothing to stimulate their interest or excite their envy. But the drawing-room motor-car, brilliantly lighted up and speeding along with fine ladies and handsome men in evening dress, radiating happiness and beaming with joy, proclaim to thousands in the streets and even in the slums what material prosperity can command. But the joy of the spirit is rarely displayed, nor ambition inspired by it, nor envy provoiced. All this tends in the mind, especially of. aspiring youth, to make material ends appear the highest good. They see joy associated with material prosperity, and with little else, and they go in pursuit of all that might bring it within their reach. Pleasure creates an appetite for pleasure, as drugs create an appetite for themselves, and pleasure-loving self-indulgence is the prevailing passion of London. To meet this demand Sunday kinemas and Sundays games and Sunday dancing and luxurious cabarets and Sunday tours in.gorgeous cars all tend to divert the mind and starve the soul. But Sir George Newman reserves his high approval for healthy wholesome exercises in the open air, away from crowded cities. Mr. James deplores the fact that these pleasure pursuits and seaside exercises take people from church and those spiritual observances that enrich the soul. Artists tell us that there is a point in any given straight line which divides it into two parts, whose relative lengths are pleasing to the eye. At any other point this pleasing sense of proportion lessens or goes. That point, known as the golden section of a line, is not at its centre and not at either end. Just as there is a golden section in every line somewhere between its two extremes, so is there a golden pathway where wisdom treads between extremes in every problem of life. It is man’s function to find, his highest duty to tread, tliat golden pathway. A man may over-develop his physique and atrophy, his soul. He may invert this process with no less unfortunate results. The tendency to luxurious and wasteful indulgence in our own and past civilisations was met by sumptuary laws, which prohibited extravagance in hospitality and display. We are not likely to revert to them. This evil must be met by enlightened education and Christian self-discipline. The church and the school are our only hope. They are complementary to one another and equally essential. By their fruits shall ye know them, for then will men find easily the golden pathway between all extremes, where wisdom treads. No one who came through the Great War and had intimate contact with the British and Dominion soldier will despair of our future. British officers were frequently heard to ask: “Are these men the product of our over-crowded cities, our shims, our Black Country, our manufacturing towns and factories?” They were the product, not so much of these geographical areas, as of our schools and churches and Christian homes. They had character and mentality far beyond that of any other race, or any previous age. They were the new and latest type of manhood, bom into and nourished by our general education system, and environed by a Christian atmosphere and moral code, never so widely prevailing nor so high. We cannot see the trees if we get too near the wood. If we stand back and take a distant view, 'we shall see a great and growing forest.