THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1920. THE CHRISTMAS MESSAGE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 17662, 24 December 1920, Page 6

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1920. THE CHRISTMAS MESSAGE.

| The season dedicated to peace and ! goodwill finds the world still in ■ sore need of its message for human j life. The antagonisms of men sur- | vive with a vigour that makes the | Christmas greeting and ritual seem j sadly incongruous at times. Well- ] nigh two thousand years have passed j since the angel chorus of the Judean hills announced the coming of peace, i and we still dwell in a warring ! world. The cannonade of the I greatest war on earth is echoing yet across Europe in the struggles of Russia and the Near East. Frontiers are again causes of quarrel, upheavals of constitution continue, and internecine strife abounds. The great nations and the little are still concerned with armaments,, and in high places the fear of further struggle is not aEayed. All flesh is aquiver with uncertainty as to how it all may end, and even the benign proposal of a League of Nations has suffered the degradation of being made the shuttlecock of party contests in the politics of a vast Christian republic. Within the borders of our own Empire, in the British Isles themselves, distressful disorder mocks the rule of law. In industrial affairs, at a time when the needs created by a devastating war call urgently for efficient co-oper-ation in production, class strife is creating bitterness and delaying the day of universal plenty. Nor does the Church itself, the custodian of the principle and potency of brotherhood, seem wholly loyal to the programme of the Christian hope that had voice at the first Noel. Into this chaos of human strivings the Christmas message comes to emphasise the supreme need of human life. It is the need of mutual understanding and mutual trust. Nothing of permanent good for mankind will be ,achieved without a fellowship of hearts. Only the spirit of goodwill can exorcise the demon of hate. The nations will live on in an atmosphere of nervous suspicion, spending millions on armaments and pursuing separating policies of militant self-assertion, so long as there be no deep desire for re a l, fraternity. The League of Nations, which in the last resort rests not upon its power to police the errant peoples of the world, but upon the willingness of men to obey the dictates of justice and order, will be launched upon a turbulent sea of troubles and make shipwreck of the j hopes that freight it, unless such ■ a deep desire fashion and control it.

j.n industry, the methods designed to mitigate friction and facilitate the settlement of disputes will achieve nothing without that spirit of good will. The land is full of unionsassociations of employers and federations 'tions of operatives ; but they will do little beside setting Opposing interests in serried array againsi each other until the will to cooperate ceases to be the merely sectional determination with which we are painfully familiar and becomes a yearning to make a comrade ol every man. Halting short of that it lacks logic and life. Without the true spirit of Christmas the Church will remain weakened by divisior and blameworthy in the light of it? own teaching of divinest charity, and all its campaign to conquer the worldly lusts of humanity will enc in a valley of dry bones. So long as care for faith be overborne b;y contentions for the faiths no victorj can rest upon its banners. Oi course, in all crusades for humar betterment there must be reasoning search for wise methods of reform, but motives count for more than methods. It remains true that " where there's a will there's a way." The world has tried many ways: it has hitherto but partially had the will. Hence, conferences ostensibly called to accomplish mutual understanding have often degenerated into trials of skill in dialectics and quests for tactical advantage. The message of Christmas ministers directly to this need. It is not the annunciation of any new method of human organisation; it is the breathing of a new spirit. It is not intellectual: it is emotional. It is not doctrinal : it is dynamic. It is not a code of regulations: it is a lyric. It fell first on the unspoiled ears of listening shepherds beneath the cool quiet of the stars ; we drown that angel-chorus all too often in the whirr of our mechanical schemes for man's improvement, missing its ministry to our inner life. Yet need we not despair. The perpetuation of Christmas is in itself an augury and argument for the triumph of human reconciliations. Like Portia's candle, it throws far its beams and in a naughty world the invincible radiance of a good deed. Its festive coming finds us not illwilled towards its gay gladness. What if the statistician tells us of the dwindling power of our coinage and his admonition be given point at every shop counter? We will as lightheartedly as ever conspire with Santa Claus to fill our 'children's appetite for the peculiar joy that wakes with Christmas morning, send as of yore our laden embassage of love to friends and forgiveness to enemies, and keep the tradition that spreads our table with good cheer. The morrow may come witli its accounts for entry and the New Year greet us with our purses lighter than perchance we once hoped ; but the reckoning will not be rued, and our book-keeping will show a balance of that inestimable good which is life's surest asset—the love that lightens labour and keeps us possessed of the trust of our fellows. With that spirit regnant, the world's woes may speedily be banished. War will become effete, industrial strife give place to mutual aid, and all life gain in sweetness and light. A little nearer the realisation of this dream, the keeping of a true Christmas, full of a frank affection and a hearty goodwill, will surely bring us.