Evening Post. FRIDAY, JULY 16, 1937. TRUE LEADERSHIP

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 14, 16 July 1937, Page 8

Evening Post. FRIDAY, JULY 16, 1937. TRUE LEADERSHIP

The spirited and inspiring call for Christian leadership made by the Bishop of Wellington in lus address to the Diocesan Synod was directed primarily to the members of the Church of England, but it may be read with benefit by all "who profess and call themselves Christians." The issues of the present were so momentous, said the Bishop, the chaos of our social order was so menacing, the whole future of so-called Christian civilisation was so clearly m the balance, that without effective leadership from the Church the hope ot salvation seemed very slender. The view thus expressed is one which is more and more impressed upon the minds of thoughtful people. They see a world which has made marvellous material progress; and yet is misdirecting that progress. Science and invention have presented humanity with material benefits; but have failed to bring that inward peace and contentment which alone can satisfy the spirit of man. On the eve of Good Friday this year "The Times" wrote of this fact in an arresting leading article under the title, "The Return to the Cross,"

It is no longer doubtful, wrote "The Times," that man, so far from being self-sufficient, needs to be saved from himself, that a large part of the world s troubles are the direct consequences of sin, that modern discoveries and external improvements are powerless to bring tranquillity among nations or peace to the individual mind.

It cannot be said that the nations are unmindful of the great problems confronting the world; or that no effort has been made for their solution. On the contrary there have been efforts and movements without numberleagues and societies, political parties and new forms 'of government. These have not wholly failed, but they have not presented the convincing solution which the average man seeks._ They have not given him something in which he might surely trust. What then is there left? "The Times's" answer to this question is the answer of the title of its article: "The Return to the Cross":

Multitudes are therefore turning from hopes that have failed to the religion of the Cross which cannot fail. They need release from the sense of guilt; on Calvary they see One Who died to gain them pardon and to make them sure that the pardon is complete. . . . They desire not merely lofty ideals — these are at hand already in the teaching and example of Christ—but a strength enabling them in some degree to transmute the ideal into the actual, and the power of the Cross to accomplish this has been shown in the lives of innumerable saints. ... So far from being a spiritual opiate, as has sometimes been alleged, it is a powerful stimulant, impelling those who receive it to active service for the Kingdom of God.

The religion of Good l-.iday is more than a philosophy, or a system of morals; to be studied and admired but never practised. It supplies the means and the inspiration for converting a profession into a practice. Then why, it may be asked, has it not succeeded more completely? The measure of actual success should not he ignored. Most of that which is good in national and individual life has its source in Christian teaching. Our system of morals is based upon it, our inclinations to justice spring from it, our humanity is inspired by it. The average man's conception of right and wrong, of truth, honesty, and kindness is derived not from some abstract reasoning or philosophy but from early instruction in Christianity. Not the power of the Stale (represented in our own country by a very small Police Force) but individual willingness to obey the laws maintains civilisation. Then why should not the religion, from which obedience to law springs, raise the standard of civilisation and banish for ever the forces of evil? Is it because men are unwilling to try this method, or that they wish to compromise? Bishop Holland's call for leadership suggests that it is because courageous and strong leadership is needed. Men will not follow if the leader appears doubtful. The leadership for which the Bishop calls is not from the bishops and clergy alone, but from "the whole body of those who would call themselves Church members." How is it to be given? We do not interpret the call as in any way a suggestion that the organised body of the Church should become political, or leave the teaching of Christianity for 1 lie study of economics, or sociology or international affairs; or that the force of the Church 'should be joined to any secular movement. Rather the Bishop urges .that Christianity should he brought

into the whole of life by members who "in the social and business life of the nation stand (irmly and uncompromisingly for Christian standards." It is for the inrlividu.il who answers this call to determine for himself or herself what: form the answer should take; but the Bishop suggests some ways: to stand unflinchingly for the application of Christian principles in everyday life, to dethrone self and give mi(Stinted service, and to recognise that "unless we are striving to create instead of to enjoy we are missing the end of life." There is in this no promise of immediate and miraculous change in the whole nation or in the world. Perhaps it is because men have expected the miraculous that they have overlooked the obvious way. The change must begin with the individual and spread, through the nation; begin with religious inspiration and proceed to social reform. To quote again from "The Times": Those presentments of Christianity . . . which depict it as primarily a scheme of social reform . . . invert the sequence which our Lord in His teaching insistently upheld as essential, holding that changes of social arrangement might be the consequence, but could never be the source, of redemption of character.