SUNDAY READING.

Taranaki Daily News, 18 September 1920, Page 11

SUNDAY READING.

"LIBERTY, EQUALITY, FRATER. NITY." (An Address to Men, by Rev. A. H. Collins, of New Plymouth.) Test: "He that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?"— I. St. John, IV. 20. Some thirty years ago I was privileged to visit the Cathedral of Notre Dame, Paris. Over the west portal of the church I read the words "Liberty," "Equality," "Fraternity," graven in marble. You know the history of that inscription. It is the permanent record of a splendid dream which has not yet materialised. Nor can the dream ever be a reality by the methods used in "the rod fool fury of the Seine," for used as the revolutionaries of France used it, the motto was a living lie. There was no liberty in Paris, save the liberty of the mob; there was no equality, save the equality of the tumbril and the guillotine; there was no fraternity, save the fraternity of violence. Nevertheless the dream was true, and the fulfilment of the splendid dream draws nearer with every setting of the sun. For liberty is man's heritage; equality before God is heaven's law; and fraternity is the goal of the "ace. Brotherhood is one of the distinctive notes of the hour. Social consciousness is growing. We arc not quite so comfortable as we used to he on some social questions. The leven of truth is setting society in a ferment. A doubt whether our commercial and industrial system is as perfect as we thought is stealing into the hearts of men. The coming of the Labor Party into growing power has compelled men to put their thinking caps on, and has set thera studying so.cial problems with new ardor. There is a keener interest in our fellow men than existed a quarter of a century ago. The church, too, which is one of the most conservative institutions in the world, has been driven to a re-exam-ination of its text-book, only to discover that the social implications of Christianity and the duties it enjoins have been shockingly neglected. Hence Press and Pulpit are declaring with insistent voice that the class distinctions and social animosities which have split the community into hostile camps are un-Chrig-tian and dangerous. Help has come from another quarter. Dr. Mercer, one of the large-hearted and catholic Bishops of the Anglican Church, has reminded us that our blood brotherhood is much closer than we have imagined. Britishers marry into German, Italian, and French families, and in this way create an increasing international brotherhood. The Bishop declares that he has mathematically demonstrated that men the world over are not removed more than the sixteenth or seventeenth cousinships, and we who are assembled in this church are probably within the bounds of an eighth cousinship. We have been in the habit of only considering those people or relatives who appeal to us and whom we know. But Dr. Mercer says: "You would be astounded, if you worked it out mathematically, to discover how much closer is your blood relationship to others than you imagined." The solidarity of the race is not a fad, but a fact. But when we speak of brotherhood let us take Dr. Johnson's advice and "clear our minds of cant." We may make the term so wide and vague that it really means nothing. Brotherhood does not mean love for people at large with nothing peculiarly personal. I do not think that is possible or desirable. Personal attachment to individuals is justified by the highest of all examples, for did not Jesus Christ single out the sacred trio as the objects of his particular friendship, and Saint John for special personal affection? It were absurd to deny the superior claim of husband and wife, child and friend, on the plea that the claim of human brotherhood is universal. There are physical and mental affinities which attract and bind. Common interests, hopes, pursuits and beliefs weave a bond which outlasts tilne. "Blood is thicker than water." Ah! me, and there is something stronger. An American clergyman was attracted by a negro boy. The lad was bright and intelligent. ' He Bhowed special aptitude for learning. The clergyman sent the lad to school, then to the university. He was educated for the church. Ultimately he was ordained. Ho became enrate to his friend and benefactor, shared the life of the vicarage, and was treated as one of the family. But the clergyman had an only daughter, and the educated and polished negro won her affection; but when the father's consent was sought, he showed his protegy the door! Brotherhood went sma?h on the color of a man's skin! Do I blame that father? I do nothing of the kind. I should probably have the same, and so would you. There are race differences which cannot be ignored. My point is this: there are bounds that brotherhood cannot pass over. It is quite possible to feel the most romantic tenderness for people at a distance; but contact shatters our ideals, and makes our radiant fancies fade. Human brotherhood is a fact. We are born so. Even Jesus Christ does not make men brothers; He reveals our true relationship; but brotherhood does not mean indiscriminate association or indiscriminate charity. Now I have said two things: Brotherhood is a fact, and brotherhood is widening and deepening, and the question is, how can we quicken and strengthen the fraternal spirit? The foe wo have to light and slay is self-centredness. That is the enemy we have to chase through all the forests and jungles of mind, and heart, and habits. But' with what weapons shall we fight? How is self-cen-tredness to be marie to vield to social consciousness? Where shall we find motive powerful enough to appeal to men and compel obedience, so that the good of all shall he the aim of each ? If the temple of a redeemed humanity is ever to rise on the. plains of time we must find a cement to hind the separate stones together. Ts there any such binding power? Various interests and motives have been suggested. (1) We used to be told that "enlightened self-interest" would put things light. The old political economy said .t would. Let each man do what is best for himself and the world would jog along all right. But you cannot gather jirapes of thorns, or figs of thistles, and even though self interest be "enlightened self interest,'* it is not thereby made less selfish. Yon do not make self-cen-tredness essentially different by enlightening it. You make make it more cunning, but not less selfish. A modern, up-to-date factory with the latest, inventions and labor-saving contrivances may be vastly superior to the methods of a hundred years ago. That is to say, it is more enlightened; but if both concerns are worked for purely personal ends, the up-to-date establishment is the more cruel of the two, The polished rapier is

a Superior weapon to the bludgeon; but both kill, and the rapier does it quicker. (2) "The Manchester school" promised us the golden age via free trade.; Commerce would bring in the Milieu* ium. Well, it hasn't; and the reason is. not far to seek. Modern trade is found- 1 ed on competition, and competition is social warfare. Gloss it over as you like, and christen it with whatever name you will, competitive trade means war. It is the predatory instinct of the beast and the jungle carried into human relations. How can you hope to secure' the reign of gracious fraternity by setting the world to fight commercially? In their personal relations business men may be kindly and estimable; but if you make business success depend on snatching custom, and under-selling trade rivals, you simply give hostages to trickery and dishonesty, and the more cunning animal wins. You are not going to realise human brotherhood along the line of competitive trade. (3) But we are told that education will bring about a better state. Well, I am an educationalist; but make no mistake. Education of itself will not effect the change wo seek. Some of the most selfish people in "this naughty world" are highly cultivated people. Their club life, like their trade, is or< nised selfishness. How is it that nearly every nation went down just at the time it had reached the acme of its culture? Let any man read the story of the nations, and say, did culture' save them? Scan the lives of university men and wflmen, and say if academic degrees are the sovereign cure for a selfish nature. I am the friend of trades unions, and ad-, mire the work they are doing; hut though you squirm under it, it needs to be.said that the trail of the serpent is here also; and unless you watch it carefully, your splendid ' organisation may become a vast engine of cruelty and oppression.

(4) Still, we have science, and if one may believe all he hears, science is going to make the world a wonderful and beautiful place. "Trust her not; she's fooling thee!" Science simply supplies us with facts that provide us with material. What those facts mean science can tell us nothing. Materialism is'absolutely helpless for social reform. It takes every bit of djgnity out of man's existence. It makes him* a mere bubble floating on a stream. It gives him no ideals, and no goal. It brings about pessimism of the most distracting and tragic kind. Science only provides material, and it remains with you and me to settle with ourselves how we are going to use the material. Science teaches lnow to make a high explosive, but who is going to teach us how to use it? One man uses it to blast the rock at the breakwater, and provide safe anchorage for ships; another uses the same kind of stuff to blow up a crowded building, and hurl men and women into eternity. It is the same material; the, difference comes in the person using it, and our problem lies with the man Using the things science discovers. Do you see whither all this leads? The very basis of brotherhood is the Fatherhood of God, and there is none other. Take away Divine Fatherhood and human brotherhood goes smash. I spoke of our close blood kinship. But what is that? We have blood relation with the lower animals. What we need is something deeper. What wo need is the spirit of love, by which I mean goodwill socialised. As Kant puts it, "There is nothing good in existance but goodwill" It is the spirit of Ben Abib: "I pray thee write me as one that loves his 'fellows." There must be a sincere love, beginning with individual souls and spreading outward to the family, the State, and the world. But where are you going to get the power to realise this? It is not enough to see the goal: we want to know how to get there. I confess I see no hope outside Christianity. I use the word in no narrow, sectarian way. I don't mean my church, or my creed. But unless we recognise our common origin and common destiny, unless we are in right relations with out Father, we shall never be in right relations with our brothers. An irreligious Labor man is false to Labor's hopes and ideals for the one power by which our Labor programme can find fulfilment is the whole-hearted acceptance of the elder brother's law and spirit, only when I see the word religion, Ido not mean my church or my creed. 'lsms concern me less and less. I am a Protestant, and as such I am free to confess that Protestantism has been too individualistic. We have regarded religion too exclusively as a matter between the individual and God. Religion is that and much beside. It is a matter between the human soul and other human soils. It is social. Protestant individualism is the principle of the individualistic system of competitive trade, carried over into religion; averyOne to take advantage of a certain scheme of salvation, and thus secure his position in the next world. But there is another and a broader idea. We are members of a holy brotherhood. Salvation consists not" ;n my salvation alone, but the salvation of others. We are "saved to serve." But in order to lift another out of the mire, I must stand on firm ground. If the spirit of brotherhood is to spread, 1 must be brotherly in my relations witlt men. If the fierce wolfish spirit of trade is to give place to the spirit of fraternity, I must cultivate that nobler temper.' If the world is to be a better place I must, be a better man. Get down to bedrock, and you will stand where Jesna stood, when He said: "Ye must be born again." Our laws, and customs, reflect the moral standard of the nation, and the only way to raise the standard is to renew the men and women who make up the nation.

The secret of Jesus is the secret of social redemption. Brotherhood without Fatherhood is a vain and foolish fancy.