ON THINGS IN GENERAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XL, Issue 12269, 13 May 1903, Page 1 (Supplement)

ON THINGS IN GENERAL.

RECKLESS FOLLY.

■ «mok-SKJSB folk of all classes seem to be •pinion that the action of the railway men t Victoria in going out on strike is reckless jr.. - It is an exhibition of something like elvporarv insanity when men with no real r: rievance, and nothing to gam, decide to a their best to paralyse the industry of their ~ntrv to reduce their fellows in other oc-vi'-ions to a state of semi-starvation, and Sise inconvenience, if not worse, to all A I sundry No wonder that, the strike me as a holt from the blue, and that the ?» ntry people were not prepared for such / 11v Many people even now cannot quite ° jf.rstoud what it is all about. We may be ST it is liberty that the Victorian SSrSmen are fighting for. Well, there £rt«nlv have been some extraordinaiy things done in the name of liberty. All theSots of the French Revolution were perpetrated in the name of liberty, with equality nd fraternity thrown in. But true liberty does not mean mere disobedience or doing what vou like, without reference to the righteousness of you. cause or the effect of • VO ur actions on your neighbours. Never was there a man who more passionately defended the rights of labour than Buskin, but he never forgot that labourers also had duties. Here is Ruskin's idea of liberty: — * "If by liberty you mean chastisement of the passions, discmline of the intellect, subjection of the will: if you mean the fear of inflicting, the shame of committing, a wrong ; if you mean respect of all who are in authority, and consideration for all who are in dependence; veneration for the good, mercy to the evil, sympathy with the weak : if you mean watchfulness over all thoughts, temperance in all pleasures, and perseverance in all toils; if you mean, in a word, that service which is defined in the liturgy of the English Church to be. perfect freedom, why do vou name this by the same word by which the"luxurious mean license, and the reckless mean change; by which the rogue means • rapine, and the fool equality : by which the proud mean anarchy, ami the malignant • mean violence? Call it by any name rather than this, but its best and truest is obedience. Obedience is, indeed, founded on a. kind of freedom, else it would become mere subjugation, but that freedom is only granted that obedience may be more perfect; and thus, while a measure of license is necessary to exhibit the individual energies of .- things, the fairness and pleasantness and perfection of them all consist in their restraint. The noblest word in the catalogue of social virtue is loyalty, and the sweetest which men have learned in the pastures of the wilderness is fold." -^ c ; A GREAT SOCIETY. The presence iu Auckland of the special deputation from London in connection with the centenary of the- British and Foreign Bible Society reminds us of the great work this interesting institution has accomplished and is still doing. At the beginning of the nineteenth century some know-alls were foolish enough to predict that before the century was over there would no longer be any demand for Bibles, which would only exist- as | dusty curiosities on the top - shelves of old libraries. But as a matter of fact the printing of the Scriptures increased with the increasing years of the century, and Bibles have been scattered in millions over the face of the earth among every people and language and kindred and tongue. No book has received a hundredth part of the attention which the Bible has been given by theologians, historical critics, arehreologists, scientists, and statesmen, besides being to millions of simple-minded men and women a joy for ever. Modern scholarship, with its most up-to-date appliances, has re-examined every word and letter, even to the dot of an M i""and the cross of a " t." And whether JouTook at it from the standpoint of the higher critic or the conservative scholar, the Bible Is certainly not a less interesting book .to-day than it was a hundred years ago. But iic doubt the greatest Biblical work of the past century was the Revised Version. The Authorised Version is wonderfully accurate when wo consider the material at the disposal of the translators, but Biblical scholarship and, research had made such enormous strides since then that a new version became a necessity. A great atuhority (Mr. Kenvon D. Lrtt., Ph.D., assistant keeper of M.SS.. British Museum) recently urged that the two versions "should be used side by side, the more accurate text being used to check and verify and explain the more familiar, until Inth alike are familiar, and we have come to see how great is the preponderance of clearness and authenticity on the part of that text, which, though seeming new to us, yet rests upon the oldest and most trustworthy authorities." A HUNDRED YEARS AGO, The centenary of the Bible Society is to be'celebrated next year, the society- having been founded in 1804. The following vivid summary of the time of its birth is worth quoting: —" those days of confusion and disaster, the old secular order in Europe seemed really to vanish away. In 1801 Napoleon proclaimed himself Emperor of the French, with Kings for his vassals, and brought the Pope to Paris for his coronation. That same year Francis 11. assumed the title of Hereditary Emperor ,of Austria as a, prelude to abdicating, two years later, his position as head of the Holy Roman Empire. At home on British soil profound changes were accomplishing themselves, and new ideas and movements had already begun to germinate. It was 13 years since John Wesley preached his last sermon. Within the previous decade Gibbon and Burke, and Burns and Cowper had all passed off the stage. Wordsworth and Coleridge had already published the first edition of the 'Lyrical Ballads.' Chal- . mers had just been ordained; Byron ami Shelley and Keats and Carlyle were still . schoolboys ; Pusey and Newman and Macaulay had not left the nursery. Ten years was still to elapse before George Stephenson completed his first locomotive, and Walter Scott published his first romance. The men who founded the Bible Society in the midst of these mingled death-throes and birth-throes understood little enough of the strange new movements stirring round about them. As little could they forecast v i? Sne of the desperate struggle in which their country was engaged. But ■ they brooded ovei the evils and miseries of mankind, believing profoundly that for ' these ills there was no prescription except ' ■we- Gospel of incarnate and atonin te love. a 7 a splendid act of faith they formed a society which had for its sole object to give that Gospel to every human creature m his own mother's tongue." At a meeting held at the London Tavern on March 1904, the Bible Society was founded, • txranville Sharp presided. William Wilberrorce was there with his brilliant eloquence, Mfl. Zachary Macaulay (the historian's mh.;r) with his generous enthusiasm. On the 'suggestion of Porteus, Bishop of London, Lord Teignmouth, who had been Go-vernor-General of India, was the first president. The first year's expenditure was ■*°91. In 1901 the expenditure exceeded •*<!67,000, and the issues from the Bible House in that eai were 845,597 Bibles, 1.308,176 New Testaments, and 2,760,586 Portions of Scripture, Gospels, or Psalters. Truly a marvellous record ! BETTER LEFT UNSAID. ' , Even judges sometimes put their foot into it," and say things they "shouldn't : oughtcr." It is just as well to think twice before you speak, and three times before you say something smart— especially if you - are a judge. Duriu„ an argument before Mr. Justice Williams, in Melbourne, on April 20, Mr. Isaacs, K.C., said that a cer- . tain section in an Act of Parliament was so clear in its language as to be, iu fact, truuipet-tongued." This remark drew from Mr. Justice Williams the retort that "'hat migh* -appea» " trumpet-tongued" to ■ the plaintiff might be regarded by the de;j fendant as " no louder than the note of a | '.Jew's harp" It afterwards occurred to I \ the learned judge that the illustration he I •.•Had used might in the circumstances seem ■k offensive t counsel ol Jewish faith, so next day he explained as nicely as possible ; to Mr. Isaacs that he must not suppose -{ jnything personal was meant. Mr. Isaacs, yw reply, said that it never had occurred 'H .to him that the remark was anything but y*tt innocent and allowable one.

Tele General-