SERMON ON SOCIALISM.

NZ Truth, Issue 151, 9 May 1908, Page 8

SERMON ON SOCIALISM.

A Broad-Minded Bishop.

Dr. Stretch, of Newcastle, N.S.W., Says Something for the Synod to Think Over.

'At the opening of the Diocesan Synod, on March 10, Dt. Stretch .(Bishop of Newcastle) , during the course of his inaugural address, introduced the subiect of Socialism, which he discussed m the following terms :—lt is curious to watch the change which is coming over people's minds m England. After saying nice things about Socialism while it seemed far off,, some are beginning "to be afraid of it now it seems nearer. However, there is no use m that ; it has got to bejaccd and understood. There may be a good deal of exaggeration, but the facts of. life are grim enough. Poverty has found its voice, and it cries aloud ; and we have to listen. For the poorer part of society is more numerous, and.in a democracy,, which we have been praising tneoretically, we find practically that tfie power islrapidly passing away from the wealthy few to the poorer many; and the poorer -many are not always m the best of tempers. * * »■ It seems to them that they have-been; kept out of the good things'too. long ; and so there are many voices, and some apprehension. Iri America, Mr Taft, the Secretary for War, is reported as saying, "Unless effective social and moral reforms, are secured, society as at present constituted must yield to a new order of things on a'Socialistic basis. Well, the sooner we realise tlie situation, and that there is nothing * left for the few to use but the-power of right, reason, 1 and of truth, if they have it on their side, the better it will lie for all. There is no use throwing about ill-defined terms, which only make" people lose their tempers. There is nothing for it but patient investigation and reasonable argument. Socialism, which, m itself, is a purely neu- : tral term, is sometimes used with lamentable looseness. M V » The term Christian Socialism often only . expresses the dissatisfaction of good men ' with the inequalities of life, and their aspirations for betterment. It also claims that Christian principle should be dominant m public and commercial life. We may all wish this without committing ourselves to so ambiguous an expression. Even when used more cxactlv it is applied to two quite different matters. Sondetimes it is used as a term of political economy, and is concerned with dis- . covering what is the most economical unit '

of production, distriTmJiort, managementand so on. The tendency has clearly been m many cases to enlarge this unit, sometimes successfully, sometimes with doubtful success. The Socialist, as such, wilf generally be. found m favor of the enlargement of the unit. The larger the better, * * • In many cases he will call himself a State Socialist and urge that the State itself should be the universal working unit. Such was the decision of the Hull Labor Congress which startled England. Practically it will be found that there is no measure common to all. In one case an individual, m another a partnership, m another the company, m another the municipality ; now the State, now ; the Commonwealth, now the Empire may be found the most useful. For instance, the Empire may be the best unit for defence, but it does not follow that itwould be the best for agriculture. We ourselves have lately changed from State control of roads to municipal. The Sydney ratepayers would hardly say that the municipal control of electric lighting was perfection. The question is clearly-empiri-cal, one which can be solved only^-by experiment. Cost and convenience will decide. There is nothing m this to lose our heads about, afid very much to call for cool judgment. * * * But Socialism is also used m a much graver and more debatable sense than this. It often assumes apolitical shape, aud it resolves itself into, this question : Suppose the majority of a communion becomes convinced of the usefulness of the largest possible unit, and succeeds m capturing the political machine, to what extent is that majority entitled to force its convictions upon. tf_e" unconvinced minority by force of legislation which will necessarily appear to that minority more or less penal and tyrannous ? Thinly veiled under the disguise of the phrase, that "majorities must rule"— this might he simply reversing proceedings, a "renewed snpercession of right by "'power,' placing m the hands of the many the same tyrannical force which was so strongly objected to by the many when m the hands of the few ; the truth' m both cases being that it is not nearly so important by whom a power is exercised as to how power is exercised." » 9 * "Power," said King Alfred more than a thousand years ago, "is never a good unless he be good that hath it." A majority is not necessarily good. The abuse of power by a majority; would as surely bring its revenges as the abuse of power by a minority. It might take longer, but when the penalty came it might be more terrible and more lasting. Still it is not on the fact of it reasonable to take for granted that power will necessarily be abused because it is m the hands of the many, for it was certainly not always rightly used when it was m the hands of the few. It is no doubt true that, generally, a system must be judged by its final term, and that many of the utterances of extremists are so wild and foolish as to be alarming. They arc angry, and "man's wrath worketh out not God's righteousness." <• i • ■ The result is that • there is a very natural tendency to hold the whole body of Socialists answerable for the words of the extreme left, and to judge; from their declared aims, the probable result of the whole movement, which also makes men angry. And while we recognise this tendency of extremists to capture the movement, we know also by experience that there "is a constant reaction against extremes/ and that no sooner have extremists found themselves placed m authority than they recognise the value of checks against which they formerly rebelled. No doubt there are alarming forces pent up, which show themselves m explosion, social aud political.- An event like that m. Portugal makes one's blood run cold for its cowardly treachery. But Portugal is not the only place where force has tyeen misused ; and the crime is far marc political than socialistic. Most nations have crimes of this kind to deplore. There are dangerous forces at work, but all the more must we not be scared .from the duty of facing facts'-. x * • • While we profoundly mistrust all Utopias m which, asMr-Peile says, "Attempt is made by enactment to make a selfish man look like an unselfish one," yet if democracy is to last, both religion and politics must be intended for the average man. If this be not so, both are failures. We are no longer dealing with philosophies of government, but with its. practice. The^ days of privileged aristocracies are gone.; There is no use nowadays complaining. "This people that knoweth not the law is accursed." The people make laws, which is a far graver thing than theoretic knowledge. The only aristocracy that pan hope to stand the final test is one that justifies its existence, by showing fearlessly m word and deed its belief m the victory of what is noblest and best, by proving itself most" truly unselfish — most practical for service. For the Socialism, wHlch is an experimental side of political economy, we can safely trust the brains and the pains of the world ; and to that survival of the fittest to survive, and the death of the unfitting for its purpose which is a note of the stern conditions under which the suitability of a process is, necessarily tested before it shows its value. * * * What is proved to he anti-Sqcial must go, for the State lives and thrives m virtue of its social forces. But we must not be m a hurry to decide *that what we do not like is necessarily anti-Social. We all want what is best, it will not come without our effort ; we may make many mistakes— we are none of lis infallible, but m the end the best will carry its own conception. For the Socialism m politics, which is m part the measure of man's inertness and selfishness— and m excess -i ' measure of man's conceit and impatience — we must trust to growing wisdom mellowed by experience. We must try to think /^the best possible of everyone. A unit is a silly phrase unless it means unity. We have to learn not to be hidebound m adhesion to the merely customary, nor to be rash m insistence on our own infallibility. The slow processes of nature and. history are very irritatirg to a reformer. But if the reformer is right, time is on his side, and explosions are not the safest means of arriving it a journey's end. * * • It is surely better to see truth prevail by its own force, through the slow conviction which comes from reasoned argument, than to drive the unconvinced into a solid minority of discontent, crystallised into continuous opposition by that curious heat men have for a reputation of consistency, whether they are consistently right or consistently wrong. It is too late to complain of the results of political movements which we have been moving forward all our lives, we and our fathers before us. We have asked for freedom, we have got it politically ; now let us learn to use it. A recent writer says .—"The effective reformer must find his fulcrum for raising society m things as they are. He is to live within the world if he is to make it better and arm himself with its powers m order to conquer it." A revolution which undoes all

that has been done may easily, lose . much of what has been won. « « • And to anyone who has studied _ the slow processes by which individual rights and personal ownership have grown out of primitive communism, the modern tendency to turn back again into the Egypy we have escaped from seems curi.ously unscientific- ' Surely the true word is, "Further forward still !" And here comes our duty as Christians. A very unpopular duty and one that needs all our courage and wisdom. To teach the world over again that only strong principle, Christ-like principle, will make liberty a ;safe possession for human beings, first, practically, instead of saying, "What can we do ? The matter is too difficult, I am onfv one." Remember the largest .flood that ever fertilised our thirsty river flats was the united movement of raindrops. As Mr Peile says, "If -all the men and women who call themselves Christians could simply do the good they know the aspect of social and economic problems would be so changed that we have no right to suppose they would remain insoluble." In other words, do what you caD and start doing it at once. • "There is no room for lethargy or indifference."- --* * * There must be a definite break with all that binds us to the conventional life— that life without guiding principles, which has grown so easy to us , and we must not return to the old ways, save as citizens of a new spiritual world. This is a quotation from one of the most inspiring of German philosophers, Rudolph Eucken. Then, m spite of passing fashion, we must more unhesitatingly than ever take our stand . upon the r rock of revealed truth. The world wants God and men who believe m God. "On God and God-like men we build our trust." If business units are to grow-larger, greater demands than ever will be made on human honesty and unselfishness. Men can-' not learn unselfishness except from the love of Christ. The opposing forces are too strong far anything else. It is no j business of ours to lose our heads, m a ! jumble of details , m which we can hardly hope to be expert guides. But it is our business to proclaim with absolute conviction principles of right, of brotherhood, of mutual consideration, of patience and love, and to live out our principles. * * # It is our business to urge against the spirit of cynical unbelief m the power of goodness which is always the shortest road to bitterness and failure. God somej how has faith m and love for humanity, ! puzzling , slow-moving, disappointing though it is. God has always given us credit for better than we are, and only ! m the inspiration of this confidence have we moved as far as we have. It is our business to urge men to shake off the indifference wnich is so fatally common— the fashionable naturalistic insouciance of so much modern thinking— to move, work, play their part, and always to give to to think the best possible of everyone, questions, social and political, study — hard study, persevering study— anh, what is not too easily given, the study which on both sides is willing to accept truth, even though it at first seems unfamiliar m outline, and even if, as it comes nearer, it seems forbidding m feature ; and, as the result of our study— and this is most important of all — to give Ourselves. * * * So, holding fast to the truth of God, as it is m Christ Jesus — Who loves all, Who died for all, Who lives for all, Who holds out hope for all— we absolutely decline to despair of the future ; we learn fearlessly to face both sides of the great problems that confront us, assured that to ceurage and faithful effort they will yield their solution. We are bound fearlessly to speak to all men, high and low, rich and poor, of the glory of service, of the freedom to be found m the life of duty, and so we hope to gain, even in ' the clash of clamorous opposition, that reconcilement of difference which shall slowly usher m the reign of universal peace.

to 200 roubles (£2O). or even more. It is scarcely necessary to say that one does not get a very showy bride for 1 Os. If the price is not high enough the girl shakes her head, and the man may offer more or pass on m search of something cheaper. If the price is satisfactory she consults with her brother, Who is her particular guardian, or with some o#ier members of her family.; ,The money paid GOES TO THE FAMIL^, but when they are good-natured they give it to the bride, to help her start housekeeping. Sometimes there is a lively competition between two or more men who are seeking the same attractive bride. It then becomes practically an auction. v The marriage market is likely to last as long as a week. During this time there is a good deal of merry-making, often degenerating into debauches, m the course of which the prospective brides sustain more or less damage. Those who are left at the end of the marriage fair «re mostly unattractive, and / BRING NEXT TO NOTHING.; When the Russian countryman has secured a wife, he carries her away to his lonely house m the thinly-peopled country. It-is a mere hut, if he is a peasant. There she has to labor as hard as a man, or even harder, rising at dawn, milking the cows, carrying wood to the house, and doing all the hardest kind of work. If her husband is too poor to afford a horse she may be harnessed to a cart or plough with a big dog or donkey. But before this stage of domesticity is reached there is a wedding, which is one of the most gorgeous and picturesque features of Russian life. The betrothal ceremony takes place a week and a day before the marriage ceremony. . During these days the bride must weep and wail and lament loudly over HER COMING MARRIAGE and separation from her parents, although really she desires these events more anxiously than anything else m the world. In Russia^ as m China, the bride's girl friends devote themselves to consoling and cheering her durmg these days of lamentation. They recite stories to her and sing songs, and the burden of each song and of every story is the joy and happiness of matrimony. On the day before her marriage she unbraids her long plait of hair and divides among maiden comrades the flowers and ribbons that escape from her loosened tresses. Then they lead her to the bath. As she bathes they sing to her. They spend hours dressing and redressing her long hair, and while they brush and twist they sing to her songs of love and happiness. Upon the wedding day the bridegroom comes to her parents' house and claims the bride. Then comes a touching bit of. ceremony. The maiden kneels before her parents, and asks them \o pardon her for any offence of which she may have been guilty. They LIFT HER UP AND KISS HER. Then they offer her bread and salt, which signifies that while they live they will not see her lack the necessaries of life. When she leaves the house its doOr is left open to signify that she may return when she will— that her girlhood's home is still hers. In many districts, when the bridegroom comes to claim his bride, her brother places himself beside her, and with a' stout stave or a drawn sword, prevents the groom's approach. The guarding brother refuses to move aside until well paid by the bridegroom. The two often engage m a long dispute, the bride inciting her brother to extort a goodly price for herself, her veil, and her beauty. In cases where the bridegroom has already purchased his bride at auction, he is naturally indignant at having to pay the brother a further ransom. The Russian people have many interesting proverbs about women, one of which is that, "There is one soul only between ten women."