SUNDAY READING.

Taranaki Daily News, 29 October 1921, Page 9

SUNDAY READING.

“THEOCRACY THROUGH DEMOCRACY”

‘‘He hath put down princes from their thrones and hath exalted them of low degree.”—Saint Luke, L, 52.

(By RcvzA. H. Collins. New Plymouth.)

Demos is king - . For good or ill political power has passed into the hands of the people. The centre of gravity has shifted from the aristocrat to tlie democrat, from the Peers to th? Commons. The change has been slow and painful, B>d is not yet complete. But as Benjamin Kidd says, “one of the most striking and significant signs of the times is the epectacle of Demos, with these new battle cries ringing in his ears, gradually emerging from the long silence of social and political serfdom. Th© change is unwelcome to many, and is greatly feared by some. More n 50 years ago De Tocqueville doled hia beliefs in the irresistible

:iarch of the democracy. But he dreaded it, and prophesied danger, and possible disaster. He regarded it as an alarming spectacle that ccnrkl not be. stopped though it might be guided. De Tocqueville misjudged events, and &t-» tached too great importance to local and temporary causes. He mistook the surge of a wave for the swing of the

sea. Nevertheless he has had his successors in the role of the false prophets, and they repeat the same gloomy forecasts.

Democracy, we are told,, is a form of Government which esCn never be permanent. The system has within it the seeds of ruin, and social discord. wPI bring them to maturity. The carper - r popular government may be brilliant, but it will be brief. The rule of the people will end in a dictator, as it did in the so-called democracies of Greece and in mediaeval Italy. Meaaiwhile the fact remains that Democracy is triumphant aB along the line. Universal suffrage was established in France and Switzerland in 184 S, in Denmark in 1866, in Germany in 1871, in 1873 the last vestige of property qualification passed in America, in Britain the extension of the franchise has steadily grown, in Greater Britain universal suffi’age is the rule. Ruseia, like a blind giant, is groping after freedom. China and Japan regard Democracy as one of the principles of West-

ern civilisation that, sooner or later, must be adopted. In India the “Swadeshi” movement is part of the same principle, “the rule of the people by the people for the people.” The domination ' of three hundred millions by a handful: if officials, mostly drawn from men of another race, and language, and religion, cannot bo permanent under the BritishFlag. Whatever the future may have in store, whether Democracy strengthens ? its grip on civilised natid&s, or, as Russell Lowell puts it, “We slink at last into the natural almshouse of bankrupt popular governments, a military despotism,” the fact remains—this is the dav of triumph for popular government, and this generation is not likely to witness its overthrow.

" A PHSE OR A FALL? What, then, shall we say of this unquestioned feature of the modern world? Is it to be welcomed or dreaded? Is it a riee or a fall? Does it mean advance or retrogression? Is it the product of rancour and party spite, or is it the moving of the spirit of God over chaos, and His yoice saying, “Let us make man in our own. image.” With all my soul I say it is the latter and not the former. The Almighty is behind it. It is another expression of the rule that Theocracy ; comes through Democracy. The rule of God ever comes Through the common people. T will return to that in a minute. But first let me say this: Judged superficially, the rule of Demos is absurd and impossible. Government is a difficult and delicate matter. It demands careful study, some knowledge of history and of human nature, and if the policy is to be sound and moral it dei mands an acquaintance with economic I principles, aiUI a grasp of ethics. Take the question of drink. Before ! you can settle that problem you need i to consider climate, national characterI istics, Labor enmditions, the housing of I the people, and much beside. Take the 1 land question. Before yon can settle | that problem you must know something of the history of landlordism in AngloSaxon commundti’c®, something of the incidence of taxation, yes, and something of the land laws of the Bible. But all this means careful study, calm weighing of sifted facte, and a fine moral sense. For these problems are rooted in a long past,‘and. they have endless ramifications lin the present. But Demos is often careI less and ignorant of history and econoi mics, and seems to hove little desire to add to his slender stock oL knowledge. Moreover, Demos is . not seldom seWh and self-indulgent. He is open to the demagogue with his party cry, his appeal to clafi-s consciousness, his flattery and sophistry. Yet grave national decisions are reached by the simple process

of counting heads without considering what is in thgjn! When the age of

twenty-one is reached, crowds of young fellows claim the right to vote, though they often care more for a football match than for national concerns, and almost need to be carried t*» the poll! “Vox popnli, .vox dei” has proven false over and. over again, for the voice of the people has not been t-he voice of God. Democracies have been thoughtless, short-sighted and prejudiced. Democracies have som-ctimes been fickle and ungrateful. They have cried “Hosanna” one day and “Crucify Hirn” the next. THE NOBLEST TYPE OF LIFE. I • Nevertheless I hold that the noblest type of life has been realised by the common people. The noblest life of Greece and Rome was their life as free democracies, in which great souls were nurtured, and the chapters which tell of their literatures, and arts, and heroisms. are the glory of the. past, and will be our praucl possessions so long as the world shall last. Nor ran f doubt that history will repeat itself, and free democracies will continue to be'G-.-d’s instrument. for the working out of His Sovereign will. God will continue to work His wise and .holy will through the

bumble born. Theocracy will come through Democracy. A DEMOCRATIC BOOK. The past illustrates this with manifold examples. I have often declared that the Bible is the most democratic book in all, the world. Its laws were given for the protection and uplifting of the base born. Its heroes and saints were drawn from the ranks of the workers, Moses, the greatest law»giver, emancipator and judge, was born in a slave’s hut. Joshua, its greatest warrior, was a poor man’s child. David, its greatest king, was trained in a shepherd’s calling. Gideon and Elijah, Amoa and the rest of the prophets were the children of the poor. Christ the Lord entered life through the low portal of a peasant’s cottage, and called a village maiden "Mother.” The Apostles were the sons of toil. The first churches, which stood like flaming torches in the murky dark of Asia Minor, were composed of men and women innured to poverty and bonds. Luther was a miner’s son. Cromwell was nursed in the ten country of England. Garfield was reared in a log cabin. It was through such men God wrought His purposes and revealed His Sovereign will. They built constitutions with Moses, dethroned dynasties with Elijah, purified republics with Gideon, rebuked wrongs with Araos, organised communities with Peter, James and John, under the very shadow of imperial despot-

You see my point. God has ruled in the past through low-born men. It would seem that the lowest born, the least tainted by fashion, and wealth, and station, have offered to the Divine Spirit the most plastic material on which to stamp His truth. Froude was right when he said: “In the sciences, the philosopher leads and the rest of us take on trust what he tells us. The spiritual progress of mankind has. followed the opposite course. Each forward step has been taken first among the people, and the last converts have been among the learned.” THE KINGDOM OF GOD. The present confirms this judgment. The kingdom of God is coming now through the democracies of the world. No one will deny that the most alert, virile and progressive nations are represented by England and America, and that, in spite of serious defects, these are the lands where the law of God is winning recognition. Who are their chosen leaders? They are men of God, born of the people. If you asked me to name the tallest men in the American Republic, I should pass by many whose names appear in leaded type, the vulgar rich, the bosses and the wire pullers, to speak of George Washington and Abe Lincoln, and Booker Washington, the modern Moses, who camp to a throne more to be envied than kings, and reached it by the simplicity, honesty and unselfishness of his noble heart.

If. instead of America, you named Great Britain, then the men who are doing most to speed the coming of the JUngdom of God are men like David Lloyd' George, the Welsh peasant’s son, and John Clifford, who began life as a cotton spinner, and John Burns, the iron worker, who, whilst beating metal on the anvil, was heating out sound .national principles. Yes, and the same is true on i his side of . the world. Labor leaders make mistakes like other men, but

some of them are good men, moved by the spirit of compassion and justice, and acting from motives that glorify ser' vice. a THE FUTITIE ASSURED. And the future? The. future is assured. We may trust the. people for two reasons. First, because their judgment is sounder. The classes are exposed to what Bentham calls “sinister motives.” How could slave holders judge slavery justly? How could the barons of 'England judge feudalism? Is the-prosperous merchant likely to be the calmest critic of profiteering? The play of self-inter-est is sur- to bias judgment. For th? last hundred years the educated classes have been on the wrong side. Re.form has always eome from the men of low estate. To quote Russell LowelJ: “An appeal to the reason of the people has never been known to fail in the long run.” Secondly, ray confidence rests in the deep respect which Democracy has for human nature, and in this it reflects

the teacliing of Christianity. Human nature is the reflection of the Divine. The meanest and. the lowest of mankind is a son of God. “Through every living soul the glory of the present God still beams." says Carlyle. Jesus Christ took up#n Jlim our nature, lived our life and died for us, and through Him the people will yet come to sovereignty. Brothers, let us join ourselves to this Friend of the humble born; Jet us follow Him-, breath His Spirit and copy hie lofty ideals, that Theocracy may come through

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