HUMAN HOPE

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 143, 20 June 1925, Page 13

HUMAN HOPE

THE SUPERMAN

ADDRESS BY DEAN OF BRISTOL.

An address on "Human Hopo" was delivered at the- Dominion Farmers' Institute last, evening by Dr. E. A. Burroughs, Dean of Bristol.

The Bishop of Wellington; Right Rev. Dr. Sprott, presided, and in introducing the lecturer referred- ■to Dean Burroughs'a visit to Australia in a representative capacity, and to his prominent position in the Anglican community in Great Britain. ■ .

. "There is just one big problem, manysided and many-featured, yet in its essence everywhere the same, which clamours to this generation to solve jt if we -want our civilisation to survive," said Dean Burroughs. "It is the single ultimate concern, if. they but knew it. of politicians and economists, of educationalists and' churchmen; and to tlia solution of it everyone "has got to contribute something, for everyone is either an aggravation of that problem, or he must assist to provide a way out of it. There are welcome signs that even the worldly secular majority of men arc beginning, under the stress of events, to sco that their interests, too, depend on the other-worldly wisdom for which the Church of Christ is supposed to stand; that for them, too, life must reach, and. indeed, is reaching, a deadlock unless they can find some, new force to -carry it forward to its goal. For surely events are more and more compelling 'us to recognise tbafc the heart of all our accumulating problems is the old unsolved 'problem of. (ho human heart.

BRINGING MAN UP TO A NEW LKVEL. •

"The real concern of statesmanship worthy of tho name must be to teach men what politics originally meant —thoart,of getting, on togetheV; and men only do or can get on together when individually they aro right within themselves. Society, as -a modern writer lias put it, is . based not on science but on conscience. What is wanted is a further evolution :of humanity—something that will bring man up to a. new level, set him in a new and wider horizon, give him, a new and truer perspective, and make him realise in a uew way what his own true interests'are!

."This is only another way- of saying that there can be no real,way out of our present difficulties apart -from a re-education of '': humanity along the lines laid down by Jesus Christ; and that, since human nature.exists in ones, means a re-education of individuals. ; "Behind-tho-great restlessness and dissatisfaction of our age, which one finds in every country, whatever its economic conditions, there lies the million-fold tumult of . individual-: souls.'■-- ' ' A CONTRAST."And here will you let me turn aside to make two remarks. First, to contrast the way of human politics and the way of religion. Your politician swears by schemes and systems and to apply them to men in the mass. Jesus Christ, and therefore His Church, so long as it is faithful, sees mankind as individuals, and offers them,, not a /system, not a scheme, but an individual friend: 'Take My yoke upon you, and learn front Me.' My- second point I shall, I hope, be_ forgiven for mentioning, and that is this: In view of the enormous weight of experience behind the claims of the Christian religion and the universal admission that a religion of some kind is necessary for the formation of stable and fruitful character, it is frankly amazing to find that in a great forwardlooking country like this you are content to leave the religion of your cliilsren more or less to chance; and even, as I understand, refuse to allow anything in your State schools which ■ might be taken even as a recognition of God. "I venture to think that one of the first duties of all who do believe in >eligion and know the history of the past is to force their politicians to see that no education worthy the name can possibly be divorced from religion. ■ A FRESH EVOLUTION. "But to resume my main theme—the need for a fresh evolution of humanity, a new step on .towards the true superman. Tliis means, first, asking what we mean by tho word ■'human;' One might perhaps s;iy that our generation has gone wrong because we have been too human in one sense and not human enough in another, too rea.dy to condone relapses towards the animal level, and inability to live up to our true origin, as sons of God. THE REAL SUPER-MAN. "The word super-man at once recalls Neitzsche's conception of the goal of human evolution. . . We cannot believe in our own cause in the late war and at' the same time accept the German idea of the super-man. ■ Yet in one I senso Neitzschb was right. It is a further evolution of humanity that is needed. The super-man is our. goal, and we must be going ahead with the task <.f producing him. The real question .is r ! What sort of super-man? Wherein will his superiority lie? The speaker told the story of Wagner's Parsival, pure in heart, and wise through sympathy—a super-man whose superiority would He in his indifference to his own interests, his power of conquering the flesh and the largeness and softness of his heart. "You see," said ' the speaker,, "how under stress of experience a great genius like Wagner comes' round to what is really the Gospel of Jesus. Christ, for our Lord never pretended that He could save the world alone. He only does save it by making other men cap- ! able of saving their brothers. Wagnsr in his story says in effect that we must simply wait and hope for our own Parsival. Jesus Christ says that there is a Parsival in every human soul only waiting to be brought out by the touch of the Divine Spirit. "As many as received Him, to them gave Ho power to j become sons of God.; even to all that believe on His name." "■ ■