PANPATRISM versus PATRIOTISM.

NZ Truth, Issue 507, 6 March 1915, Page 1

PANPATRISM versus PATRIOTISM.

fOUR fOURruLD FATEfIIL FORCES: . / Anglican \ ] p . ' German I . ' ran- J , ¥ i V-ism. Islam .' ■■ i. „V ''Slav; J |- ' ■•..-' RACIAL RIVALRIES- RELIGIOUS RANCOURS. : COMMERCIAL COMPETITION— COLONIAL CONQUEST. INDEFINITE IMPERIAL EXPANSION.

Vee Victis !

„'•-..■ It matters not of -whom or- what, •when or where I wrlte|! whether enqp^ • iplaptlcally or /coramipatorially of ; merr wid>' things^ ic^riblatrJi^ly;y^Yl Co,l^" r^^astfpallyY oi . nvlraclea. jaddY tjciy ths ; -, re^ or irrevereritly|of theories. and 'tliiiigs pj-ofahe or aacr^d, : it )-eemßever Ytheyßame with me,; It i|§ over myylam-. ■ entable' lot to be criticised;* censured, 'nn^F condemned. 'There's ahVays a swarnilof scribbling censors and plek'thank pemheii desperately desirous to' scratch me to death; and hang me m r thbychairis of 'their ceijjsure or to pick holes m my personal probity or prick mo' to death • with - thbii* , perrilcketty perii through the cuticle of my own, .patfer. Biit I decline tjb let this pestle lent push of pissant 'penmen deface the fair, fresh features of "Truth" by pillorylri^me m its pagesjeyery Saturday. ' '',:..'. .t.A* . V ',l-*A;AA .. -. :*f'A :.? The foregoing Is. at ;bnce a ataterjient, a protfcst, and a f warning to the afore- "•■'. said swarm of spumous ; scrawlers, who seem to think that thei world' is waiting to ; know what they think about • Norton 1 and his notions. Nbthlng can be t lirtherVf rora fact,' The world khbws enough' about Norton, :| and more than' - It knows about .many much more/promhient men, of, whom they'd know but little .but for Norton, or nothing at alb that "would bb true/but: for Norton, a^d 'the ""irfuth." Ais for thesc{ Nortomanl-. acs.Y these' buzzing jblowflies, these scrawling stinkards of {the social cesspit's and 'sewers,' these> pulverescent •pimp Vpenpushers, whpse; pustulatous peris are putrid with the f poisonous pus of ptiiriilent •" politics,-'.,.'' they /must get them to the proper place for voiding their venbmousY vermiinous verbpslties 1 *» and Ycbritemptible' coricateiiations of V ' constipated carpulosltljes, nnd; blatant, ■; brutal ; bestialities, ;'whlch is—the dunghill or the dustbin. ; ; " - ~Xt '.*. ■"'.'■ '" ' *''Y'jlY. V ! : .;*?.\ ' : 'y ThVj columns of this paper f m every State iof this Commonwealth and {m each province of- the Dominion of Nqw' Zealand (In nil of which it Is separately; and simultaneously published) are open, to contributions {from men arid women who have; real, and legitimate .public or priyato grievances {and wrongs to expose and denounce. In the same way and to the Bame e"Sctent '■' "Truth's" pages are, open to tho crltl- * olnrii .or censure- of any declared policy or (leflnitc opinions eapbusod m its columns. They are also always open to the contributions of those who dread -.■■{tho. paper, dislike its policy, and de-, " tegt ' its editor, . conduc^ori arid proprie-. V tor.{ In the Case of {"Truth," these three last, like Mrs; Mnlaprop's Cor- ; . befuk. are "three gentlemen at- once." a sort of a trinity, so to speak, which, if not sacred, is; yvery .substantial — weighing no less than twelvo stone—- • the number of the Twelve Apostles. Thuis is the scaled weight of a- profane preis proprietor expressed, If not cbnBccrated, by tho sacred number, Three, viz., four Throes to tho Twelve, and Tfirco fours to the dozen. Thus Is a curious, If not consecrate, combination of threes the cfllclent expression of the avoirdupois of a little heavy man llko Norton, said to be shorter m stature .{ than his patron. St. {Ipnul, who was Saiil iMjforc ho became St. I*aul, who then became much hlpher and holler .. than Saul In repute and: conduct, if not tailor In stuti.ro and pi'bttlor m prolllo. ■ -l, ■ V. ,' ■ : • ; - * . -!,Y?. • y That great protagonist of Protcstan,/tlsm, Paul, is said, or rather supposed, V to havo had what that {delightful drunkard and dramatist, Sheridan, makes ono of ,hls characters In "The School for Scandal" dcacribo as "an unforgiving eyo and a damned disinheriting countenance." Religious writers of grca.t antiquity, but small authorltyY say, or suppose, that Paul waft ndt only short -m stature, but baldhvaded and bandy-legged, and, worse i\\\\, that he had a mo»t sinister squint or villainous east m tile oye-~ln short, that ho was cock-eyed. Renan, In his "Life of St. I'nul," scouts the squint, but sanations the cast, and pronounces

his 'amiable- "anathema" over : poori Paul's bald-pate and bandy-legs. But then it, <imist .• be borne m mind that Reriaiv though a slkeptlc,' was a very reverent' worshipper of things old and reverend. " * -' # • # ' • This' anti-d'ogmalisl, Renanf was a most dogged dogmatisor for decency and decorum m things both sacred and profane. He was against 'all theological, religion 'and sacerdotalism, yet he was a theologian' to his flnger-tlps, profoundly religions to tho core, so far as tho supernatural was-; concerned. Notwithstanding his dislike of Hebrew ahd Christian sacerdotalism; Renan would have made a fervent Pagan "flatten," And the most devoted, if not the most high-spirited, "Pontincum Romanorum ' Maxlmorum." Consequently, tho arch-schismatic of the Jesuit seminary, ' the saintly secular seer of Treguler, the Biblical lay-bard of Brittany, had even smaller sympathy with Paul the Apostle than with Saul the persecutor. ' ' ♦ * «. When Saul stood by,, consenting unto St. Stephen's death, and approving by permitting those who stoned Stephen to lay tlielr clothes at his (Saul's) feet,- as if ( for sanction of their bloody brutality, .. Renan . could understand and sympathise with him. But when Saul the Judalstlc" persecutor v became metamorphosed Into Paul the pragmatical preacher of Protestant Christianity, Renan is almost ready to regard the troublesome tent-maker (or weaver of qloth used for tents) as a disturbing reactionary, if not as a rascally renegade raiding the fold and rending the flock of tho Primitive Church. Hence his readiness to believe in 'the Pauline' baldness, bandyness, and cockeyedness. Though 'himself a protestor of protesters, Renan was never a Protestant In tho polemical or pragmatical sense. *.* ' * < The most Placatory of polemlsts and the most reverent of rationalists; Renan disliked the aggressive arrogance of Paul, his , truculent "toploftlness,'! and, above all, his domineering dogmatism. He, the Protestant of Treguler, regarded tho Protestant of Tarsus, as a pestilent fellow. The difference betwoonYßcnan and Paul was that' whereas Rohan professed to believe In nothing that he did not believe to be true, he revered, If he did ' not believe, many things that he believed to be old. Paul, on the other hand, professed to believe m many things that ho did not believe to be twte, and refused reverence to many. things simply because they were old. The erst; while persecuting Saul, .when he becamo the preaching Paul/ was positively cynical m his public proclamation of his disregard of , truth In speech and honesty m action "If so bo as 'how" It happened to suit his sincere and self-styled holy purpose of saving soular-or, ns' ho himself put lt, "plucking brands from the burning." ♦. .'■.:■ : -* • '■» Lot every pious Paulinist or Paullclan Protestant polemlst peruse "The First Epistle of Paul thu Apostle to tho Corinthians," In the Authorised, and not tho theologically tlnkorod-up, Rovlsed- Version, watered down so to speak, to suit the Ideas and convenience of stock -holders In the modern schenio of Pragmatical; Protestant Salvation. In that famous Corinthian Epistle, Paul dhcojirses m the feebly faithful of tho earlier Church upon the Church and Its foundation, wisdom, nnd salvation, and • reproves discord and dissensions; tolls what ip think of and: 'how .to 'apt toward ministers; describes fneest and fornication and tolls what's to be done with tho "dirty dogs"who do these disgusting -"things; Instructs believers how to -"hold tholr end up" before Pagan persecutors, to avoid litigation ami hoiv to : treat nnd what to do with led-about virgin.*: whom to marry, when to marry, and what to do when huirrled; hew nnd

"what and when to drink and eat; when and why and what' to abstain from; asserts " his apostolical character '"all on his own." , Paul m the same Epistle puts m a very pertinent- plea for payment of preachers, only just to Iteep 'cm > going-, like, (the object t of {.heir mission;belug not filthy lucre, but tho -"incorruptible crown," their, life being; .likened' to a hard race to be run. a good fight to be fought and won) : lays down rules- for worship and for what is railed ( the Lord's Supper; all about women- and men prophets, prophesying* covered or uncovered; of spiritual gifts, similar and diverse, m which ■■ the allegory of the/.inter'-dependence of the different members of .'the body corporeal is introduced to illustrate the necessity of 'diverse' gifts to" those who minister m the body. spiritual, the Church; of'hilingual' and multi-lingual preaching J and against the prating? of -women m < public' • i *'.-.-■ * ■'■■.'■*■ ,* The 'postle goes on to discourse i upon the mystery: of the resurrection, ' ahd.'a lot of other similarly sacred and ' solemn subjects, such as the painful ceremony of snipping or clipping with the , circumcisional shippers, clippers, or scissors, the eating of sacrificial flesh, and such like edifying subjects upon which Paul says a great many words,? but sheds very little light. And having carefully conned and considered Paul's opinions thus expressed ! upon these and cognate subjects, they . "will be- In a position to pronounce up- j on Paul's position and proficiency as I a religious ratiocinator and sophistical seer — a 'promulgator, of what is termed by a greater than even Paul, St. Peter, the- Chief X) f isciple;and Premier. Apostle, as "the'sincero milk of' the word," so, much "desired by Hid new-born babes of the' young Churcli. i> . - » ■■ . ■ ' :,'*': '? . *; ' What has all >thls if Paulician, palaver to do i with Panpatrism m any one of its several Pananglican' phases, very probably and 'quite properly, and pertinently, too, will be asked by people who pride . themselves "as much, if hot more, on the score of their presumed, patriotism as their self-imputed piety. The co-relation of Pananglicanism with Pauline principles, of piety will be shown In the next letter of . this series. Suffice it td say,' now and here, that Pananglican. Pats who, cannot perceive any connection between their patriotism and piety are very poor Panpnts Indeed from .the viewpoint of mentality and morality.', The patriotIsm and piety of such purblind Pats 'as they, it shall be the purpose of the next letter to shake up and severely shock next week. . JOHN NORTON. Scott's Hotel, Melbourne, Sunday, February .4, 1915. FEAST OF ST. JOHN, BAPTIST OF THE CONCEPTION. Let us beware of change, lest, under pretence"- of more perfect service of God, we* do but distrust His providence and gratify self-love. "The devil often transforms himself Into an angel of light, and make's men, under the pretext of doing better, leave even what' Is good." — S. Philip Neti. / "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast and immovable, always abounding m the work of the Lord, knowing that our labor is not vain In Iho Lord."— l Cor. xv. 58. ■' When the Saint was at« Rome for the sanction of his reform he found himself hated by his brethren, ->vliose perfection he had at heart, opposed by the Spanish Government, and worn out by sickness.. lie was staying, as he had done m his childhood, In a Carmelite house; and tho friars pressed him to leave the Trinitarians and become one of. them, since; the reform seemed plainly contrary to the will of God. In a. moment' of weakness SYJo.hn en-' tered their noyltlatc. The devil, under the form of a friar/ urged him to persevere; but GOd enlightened him. In a vision, and he returned- to his own Order, to recommence his apparently fruitless efforts. Soon 'after. Clement 'VIII., of his own accord, Issued the Bull establishing, the reform. SAINT JOHN BAPTIST. "Study. John,"' said Sj. Teresa to our Saint; "one day you will follow me." The child, through his excessive penance, could not walk for two years; but he 'persisted, 'saying, "If penance has hurt, penance will heal." While studying theology' his chastity was endangered, and he resolved to null the world, and become either a Carmelite or a Trinitarian. Our 'li. ' Lady bade him enter the latter Order. The most learned man of his lime, he loved tending the poor and . thu sick, and devoted himself to the 1 p\nguo-strleken m lfil'O. He became the apostle of Andalusia, .while consumed himself by' a fever of twelve years' duration, and was then prepared for his life's work, the reform of his Order. While he was at Rome for this end. his brethren accused him us a thief, and slandered hint to ihc Sovereign I'oiuiiY. But he was encouraged hy S, Francis of Sales, S. Camillas of I .fills, and S. Mary -Mngdulon of i'ar/1. The approval of tho reform raised n general revolt. Tho friars In Spain attempted his life, and ho found himself almost alone. But his 'sweetness and mlr- ; acids gradually ' attraoteU kindred souls. As, ho lay dying with Hie brethren of the reform: around him, he prayed llk<» S. Martin; "If I am nefceSaa ry to tht' reform," 1 refuse not to labor. Thy will be done." But further ' sacrifice, was not demanded j of hint, and he entered 'into hi.« r»v«<i A.li. K.n.