SUNDAY READING

Taranaki Daily News, 28 April 1934, Page 2 (Supplement)

SUNDAY READING

By the Ref.

J. D. McL. WILSON

THE “UNKNOWN WARRIOR”

HOMAGE TO COMMON HUMANITY. NOBLENESS THAT LIES IN MEN. (Sermon preached on Anzac Sunday; Scouts and Guides being also present.) “So Moses the servant of the Lord died there' in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, Over against Bethpeor; but 110 man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day.” —Deuter, 34/5, 6.

In the text there is brought to your notice the unknown grave of that most notable statesman, profound moralist, and great fighting-leader of the Hebrews, Moses. A man whose name is a familiar word to every true son of the three great monotheistic religions of the world—Judaism, Christianity, and Mohammedanism. Tire Moslems, however have evidently felt that such a conclusion- to the life of one so revered and reverenced was unfitting and unworthy; so, on the edge of the desert and this side of the Jordan, they built, to mark Moses’ grave, a * stupendous mausoleum where the faithful may adore. This action, as you perceive* is in line with the almost universal custom of the nations throughout the centuries, for they everywhere indicated in visible and significant form, the last resting place of the noble dead. To such a practice, however, in recent years, there has been a magnificent ex- , ception. At the close of the war we reversed the idea of the historic past, and at the centre of the Empire is a grave, not of the mighty dead, but of a simple nameless warrior, and to it, perhaps more than to any other, the feet of returning pilgrims go. This strange, significant and symbolic act of ours, has caught the imagination of the world. Many peoples have followed our. example. Italy has her -Militie Ignoto. In Paris, in the middle of the busy traffic of the Place de L’Etoile and beneath the Arc de Triomphe, rests an unknown Poilu. On the slopes of Arlington, near Washington, is the venerated grave of America’s nameless hero. And, beneath the stone flags of Westminster Abbey, lies our own representative of that great host of nearly a million “brave hearts that never more shall beat.” Our thought in so immortalising the unknown warrior was not to glorify war, or to exalt the soldier as a super-type of humanity, but to pay deserved homage to the worth of our common humanity. It was also a just recognition of that nobleness which lies in men, sometimes sleeping but never .wholly dead, so wonderfully exhibited in those portentous, testing and poignant war years. Now there are two contrary views of our human life. In the first man is a child of the devil, bom with an evil taint which pollutes the heart and its every expression. The other is that we are created in the Divine Image, made but little lower than the angels, and still possessing native and essential qualities of our heavenly origin. Neither view is exact Each contains elements of truth and fact. But at this time we are concerned with the one aspect—the unsuspected worth and potentiality of our human personality. This thought, we make no doubt, was what underlay that romantic and dramatic conception of doing honour to an unknown warrior as representative of the spirit of multitudes of others. Who the man actually was nobody knows. Of the greatest probably not, as his body would have been recovered at once, and due recognition made of Iris honourable service. He was the average man, but yet judged to possess distinctive qualities which merited the highest rewards arid the deepest respect of Kings and Empires. Indeed only Westminster Abbey, the home of the Empire’s illustrious dead, was counted fit resting place for this nameless representative of our plain humanity. There is a parable enshrined in all this, but before expounding it, let me

point out further illustration in our ordinary life. In the heart of all reformers, underlying all efforts of social amelioration, and motiving every attempt to remove economic injustice, is a more or less definite conviction that changes must be made because human life is being imperilled and destroyed. Now that appreciation of the supreme worth of mankind, as beyond machinery, material possession, land and gain, is a striking feature of our present day. It is not unique to us. It is a genuine expression of Christ’s example and teaching. None has given to the world such an appreciation of the infinite value of the human soul as Jesus did. It is something inexpressibly precious in His sight. It cannot be hurt or destroyed without wounding the very spirit, of the Eternal Father. God Himself made it. In its direst need He sent His only son to die for it, and for 2000 years He has invited man to share with Him the task of setting up a Kingdom of Heaven in the world. Few things delight. Him more than man realising and expressing to the full his marvellous potentialities. And better a mill-stone hanged about the neck of nation, group, or individual, and their consignment to oblivion, than any abuse of power or privilege to the abasement of humanity.

The reason why Christianity opposes slavery, vice, opium, alcoholism, sweating, and so on, is because such things enfetter and injure human personality. Christ is not profoundly interested in man’s earthly lot and circumstance. Man may be tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor, or anything else. What vitally concerns Him, are eternal values, and man’s essential life and spirit. Material associations touch Him only as they affect helpfully or adversely man’s character and his powers to fulfil the divine purposes in the world. Now the spirit which man is everywhere to display in this life is the spirit of a good soldier—loyalty to King and cause, alertness, courage, fortitude, good-cheer, willingness to serve and sacrifice, even to death itself. This, as Ruskin rightly insists, is a temper which can be displayed in every walk and situation of life. It is the spirit of the best of the Crusaders who fought their way to the holy city and the sacred tomb to free them from profane and infidel hands. It is the spirit of Wordsworth’s Happy Warrior:— “Whose high endeavours are an inward light, That makes the path before him always bright.” It is the spirit of Tennyson’s noble knight, who declared:— “Man am I grown, a man’s work I must do. Follow the deer? Follow the Christ, the King, Live pure, speak true, right wrong, follow the King, Else—wherefore bom ?” Let me close with these lines from Wordsworth’s Happy Warrior:— “Who, not content that former worth stand fast; Looks forward, persevering to the last; From well to better, daily self-surpast: Who, whether praise of him must walk the earth For ever, and to noble deeds give birth, Or he must fall, to sleep without his fame, And leave a dead unprofitable name— Finds comfort in himself and in his cause; And, while the mortal mist is gathering, draws His breath in confidence of heaven’s applause: This is the Happy Warrior; this is he That every man in arms should wish to be.” 1 “Stand up, stand up for Jesus I Stand in His strength alone; The arm of flesh will fail you; Ye dare not trust your own. Put on the Gospel armour; Each piece put on with prayer; Where duty calls or danger; Be never wanting there.”