CHRISTMAS, 1908!

NZ Truth, Issue 184, 26 December 1908, Page 1

CHRISTMAS, 1908!

What Have We Profited by Christ's Birth?

Christmas 1908 ! Nearly two thousand years have passed since the advent of the- great Master with the message,; '*'Glory to God m the highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men," and the human race is still living, the same life. as existed .when Christ appear-; efl with His teachings of love for ' our fellow men.* m this twentieth century human beings prey on each other as a pack of hungry wolves, and the weakest inevitably' goes to the wall, even whilst the strong and professing Christian pretends to follow the Biblical injunction to do unto others as we would^ that others should do by us. We' •boast of our advanced civilisation and yet we have, side by side with jthose rolling m w r ealth, numbers of people on th* very 'verge pi starvation. : And this is "God's Own Country," the hypocrisy of the term is nauseating m •the extreme, and every true follower of; Christ should be heartily ashamed of .what is nothing more nor less than rank blasphemy. Christ came on earth v ■•with a missibnt" ■ and - ; ito^.^mission— -tjhej uplifting of the poor— His whole life was spent m ministering to their wants, but His allege"?! followers m the twentieth century do not adhere to His teachings. Christ turned the money-changers out of the temple, and His charge, it is written, "My house shall be called the house of judges ; but ye- have made it a den of thieves," could be aptly applied .to many of the churches existent to. 1 day. It is not the poorvthat the clergy Seek m these degenerate Tdays. It is' /always the -home of the wealthy and well-to-do where the oleric can be found partaking of that horrid innovation ot the present day— afternoon tea— and listening to the^ scandals which are bred and discussed at this, bastard meal. The poor may be starving, rotting like sheep at the very door of-the cleric, but he has eyes and sees not, ears has he and hears not ; apparently the Kingdom of Heaven is not for such as these. It is sure that here ; and there .is found a faithful, trusting parson, or, priest scrupulously attending to his flock, denying himself even bare sustenance that he may minister to the , wants of the starving poor, but so rare are these cases that bhey become notorious, m- themseiyes and they constitute a very : poor minority. But the general" body of . clerics is composed of arrogant, snobWsh persons, whose sole desire .is to live" a life of ease and luxury, untrammelled with the cares or responsibilities placed on them by reason of their holy office. They enter their pulpits with stately step and dignified mien, and preach to, the people much m the same way as an actor talks to the "Gods." And \ this is what they term following m the footsteps of the Great Master. But the Great Master, whose teachings are .. .respected by even agnostics, sceptics, and atheists, and. whose' life was a worthy pattern to be copied" and adapted by all men, no matter ol what belief or creed, was humble ami lowly, m striking contrast to the present day shepherds. ' .-' : , • ■'. " . • ir *■».:■ "Tis true that General Booth and his . ■shrickinic sisterhood minister to the submer.,c.l tenth, whom the ordinary cleric •..iiju'ently regard as outside their folds, and for this ; the Salvation Army ■' is worthy of much commendatiqn, though its mode of application is open to ques-t-too. Again, we .have sisters and brothers wno. devote their lives to the recl;iiminc qf fallen women, but the 'system of re 1 - lamation is. at... fault,', and the failures ure consequently many. The harlot is sought by these misguided persons and placed m a ''home' — what a misnomer for the hells which these places usually are. Preached at n-.ovning, ■ noon, and. night, is it any wonder ,that these poor, dei mehted creatures yearn for a more sympathetic, if unwholesome companionship, and leave the "home" to resume their evil ways. It is not following m ;fche foots tcj*s of Ohrist to treat tihese victims of our corrupt civilisation as outcasts, and to seek to make them feel that they are outside the pale of "clean" society. We shut them up m homes and penitenitaries. We drill it, into them that they 'lave erred and lived a life ol sin ; we force it on them that they are parinhs something: less than human and yet we expert by these means to reform them ft.om a life which, it must be confessfd. they themselves loathe and hate : hut the effect of all this misguided treatment is to make them even worse creatures of circumstances. It is aot /difficult Lo picture the erring girl m her

teens, passing her nights lonely, friendless and miserable, yearning for that touch of sympathy winch: alone is needed" to restore, her to respectable, society and crying m vain for it. It is not difficult •to picture even • the hardened harlot yearning,, for some sympathetic soul to stretch out its hand to help her, and, lacking the sell-will to help herself, rushing headlong to destroy herself m the silent waters of the -harbor. It is these unfortunate . cneatures who point the moral, to our smug, cynical clerics > and shrieking sisterhood at this gladsome season of the year. Too often do we forget the harlot who trades her body for ; money to satisfy man's desire to gratify his lustful passions, is of our own flesh ' and blood. She was somebody's darling, is somebody's sister, somebody's daughter, and mayhap somebody's wife. She has .been possessed of all the high ideals which even the ( most degenerate of men look for, m woman, but, sad to relate, the verf sex which now spurns her as being beyond . the . pale, * as something to be mocked at, reviled, and condemned, is j the same sex which by crafty, cunning, despicable ways, robbed the woman of all t/hat she possessed. She is ruthlessly cast aside like a soiled glove. Man ' looks for something m woman more than he himself possesses ; he expects her to be, above all, virtuous, whilst, at the same time he is a wanton, wicked flespoiler of* virtue, who, under pretence of love— the horror of it all— abuses the finest and most perfect flower m God's garden, a flower given him to lighten his days, incnease his jays, and minister to his many wants and requirements. And, unfortunately, woman, poor, helpless, friendless, defenceless woman, having once fallen is ever at the, mercy of [ the unscrupulous fiend who has robbed her of her precious jewel of virtue. In constant fear of her guilty secret beirig revealed, the girl who has succumbed to ■her tempter is ever at his mercy, and when he has , become tired of his despoiled dove, he turns her over to the world. , The downward path is an easy one to tread and woman having once commenced the descent her hope of recovery is small indeed. ■."..'.*■■•'■' • . ■ V It is at this festive season of the year that our girls have much to fear, as whilst we are ostensibly celebrating the birth of Christ, it is, alas, too true that men. especially are wont to give way to their vices and passions. And that, two thousand years after the Great Master's time on. earth, this should be the case, is a great blot on our boasted civilised Christianity. It is here we pause to urge on our community that the helping hand should' be extended to,, the physically and mentally weak. And' the only way m which genuine reformation can be accomplished is m treating J our unfortunate fellow-creatures as one of ourselves. Let them feel that they are,' indeed, human beings, fellow creatures of the same f am-' ily as. oufselyes and much will be done m the direction of rescuing o.ur fallen Sisters from the destruction to which they are now going headlong, and by so doing we shall be carrying out the desires and teachings pf the Great Master. When dhrist devoted Himself to the task of healing the sick He met with much opposition and adverse criticism, chiefly at the hands of the aristocracy of that day. And thie reason was not far to seek. Christ devoted Himself to the sick [ poor an/1 not to the rich, and it was' His sympathy for the poor 'which roused the feelings and ire of the scribes and pharisees. After two thousand years matters m connection with the. healing of the sick poor are little more advanced than they were m Christ's day, and it is ( a stigma on our so-called advanced age that the healing of the sick is a private money-making industry or enterprise, That physicians should be recompensed for their services is admitted, but ■the method of recompense is at fault, and should be remedied. That any skilled physician should have the power to heal and be permitted to withhold that power until • a monetary payment is forthcoming is neither consistent with our professed Christianity nor with the feelings of common humanity inherent m all. That the healing power of the physician should be available for the. rich person and not for the poor is nothing short of a crime, and should not be permitted m this twentieth century by any race or nation claiming to be Christian and civilised. 'It is true that the common people, by co-opeiatioa and

unity have done much towards providing free medical treatment for themselves, i and m this connection the Friendly So-, cities have accomplished a magnificent work, but magnificent as it is, it. is lim..ited and has its drawbacks. One very vital drawback to the friendly society system is that it is applicable only to those of sound bodily constitution, consequently those who are most liable to need medical attention ate, by reason of their infirmities, placed outside the pale iof the co-operative scheme, and this should not be so. It is. iirue that we have public hospitals, but (here again the scope is limited and circumscribed. What is required is that free medical treatment by 'the best skilled medical men ' should be available to the poorest of the land, and 1 this ; can only ,be accomplished by compulsory taxation for the purpose. And why not? We are compulsorily tax«d for the education of the young, even though we have neither son nor daughter of our own, and if it is right to ensure that pur children, shall have sound education, it is certainly right and proper that we should tax owrselves to ensure that we have sound bodies and constitutions* But this is Socialism pure and simple.. Certainly, and one of the best forms of Socialism which can be applied to the people. Our teachers* are paid by the State, and there is no reason why ( our doctors should not be remunerated by the State also. Such a scheme would not prevent private practice, as medical men, and particularly specialists, would always be able to procure fees fnpm wealthy patients, as they do now. If such a scheme were submitted to Parliament by the Premier it would undoubtedly meet with the unanimous support of the members and, would be at least one tangible proof of the' desire of the people to follow the teachings of the Great Master to go out into the highways and byways to heal the sick, the halt, the lame, and the* blind, > ■■•■•-.