THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 4, 30 September 1943, Page 4

THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY

Comments —Reflections

Speak not ill of the year till it is goue.—Proverb.

“The British Labour Party repudiated its best leader, Herbert Morrison, for the antiquated. Arthur Greenwood in a grudge light. The Labour Party has almost no leadership material outside of Morrison. Younger men have been snuffed out by the practice of putting retired trade union officials, aged and broken down, into Parliament as Labour Party members.” —New York "World-Telegram” London correspondent.

“Our two desires are closely allied; one is to finish the war, the other to get home. We appreciate your good wishes, hut we don’t appreciate home strikes, false patriotism, and a recurrent indifference to this part of the world. Our favourite income is mail, not money, and our favourite emission is a curse at John L. Lewis. The men here would gladly trade jobs with any of his workers, and work for half the pay and twice the time, were they permitted an occasional day at home or an occasional weekend with their wives. Homesickness is a much greater grievance than a doubtful poor wage.—" From a letter homo written by an American soldier in New Guinea, published in the New York “HeraldTribune.”

“The Japanese know that wc can take their navy, demobilize their army, control their industry, limit their trade, strip their fortifications, and even occupy part of their country without disturbing their war-making capacity if we fail to stamp out (lie tradition of militarism. The innermost heart of Japanese aggression is the Japanese militarist cult and Japanese claims to racial superiority. Unless that cult is destroyed another war will be inevitable, and the Japanese will begin preparing their next military empire at the very moment that they raise the white flag over the smoking ruins of this one.”—Former U.S. Ambassador in Tokyo, Mr. Joseph 10. Grew.

“The party trace is indispensable if the nation is to act as one unit in the conduct of die war. If the three principal parties, whose leaders are serving in the Cabinet, are to present candidates against each other at* by-elec-tions, it will be impossible for the Cabinet to remain united. An independent candidate representing some group may be justified where the candidate chosen by the party which held the seat at the last election does not command confidence. If the local association abuses its right of choice the’ electorate is entitled to react and to send to Parliament someone else. But if any important body of opinion throws over the truce and wins an easy popularity by presenting candidates who can be critics without bearing responsibility; if, at the next general election 100 or 200 or 300 independent candidates present themselves, and a' considerable proportion of them are elected, then we should have a confused House of Commons. No Government can be assured of consistent support, and as in France and Italy, democracy will fall through inability to secure a strong and stable executive.” —Viscount Samuel, in a speech at Birmingham. « ♦ *

“The need for a new approach to evangelism was one of the chief topics discussed at the recent Assembly of the Church of Scotland, and already a definite programme has been agreed upon,” writes “G.J.” in the “Manchester Guardian.” “Just as we have chaplains in the Navy, the Army and tlie Air Force, so now it is proposed to appoint industrial padres whose workwill lie in. the workshop, the shipyard and the factory. A minister has been set apart to organize this approach to industry, whose business it will be ‘togain the confidence of employers and employees alike, so that industrial concerns will agree to recognize a minister as chaplain attached to the works, the function of the chaplain to be comparable to that of a padre in the Army without the parade services. After the chaplain is appointed, he is started on a pioneering adventure to discover his own best lines of approach.’ It is expeeted that these industrial padres will for tlie most part be men in the regular work of the ministry, who will be selected by their own local presbyteries as specially fitted for this kind of service, and who will undertake it as part of the work committed to them as ministers of the Gospel in the neighbourhoods in which they dwell.”

“The Nazi does all lie can to make the life of the Church as unpopular as possible; indeed, he makes it dangerous. He compels us Christians to show that we are ready to sacrifice for our faith; but when we are prepared to do so and he knows it, he loses his courage, failing to comprehend how anybody can resist his great regime. He thought and still thinks that he is invincible. His experiences with a Christian congregation simply do not fit into his scheme; they have irritated him terribly, but have also won for it his admiraton, and often enough have made him uncertain of himself. What wc have to do is to find his weak spot, the place where every Nazi is completely rotten : then we are certain of victory. For the things which occupy tlie centre of his being are meanness, cynicism, cruelty, cowardice, lies, fury, uncertainty, confusion and darkness. Anyone can beat him if he is prepared to pay the price of victory; but the determination of what the price is, as we know well enough, lies with God. Were I to offer an answer to tlie question, What is the Confessional congregation? it would always be this: the fellowship of those who are prepared to pay the price demanded for the victory of faith. . . .”—Dr. Hans P. Ehrenberg, formerly minister of St. Paul’s Church, Bochum, and Assistant Professor of Philosophy in the Heidelberg University, now an exile in England, in his book "Autobiography of a German Pastor.”

Picking Flowers. t When you’re picking flowers, Leave a few io grow; Thon you can enjoy them Another year, yon know. If they are abundant, Gather all you wish, Weave them into garlands Or place them in a dish. If you seldom see them, Growing anywhere, Leave them without picking. For that kind is rare. When you lyve tlie flowers, Pick the ones you need: If they're scarce and lovely, Leave a few for seed. —Non Keen Duffy, in the “United Church Observer” of Canada.