A Christmas Message

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 82, Issue 305, 24 December 1938, Page 18 (Supplement)

A Christmas Message

- By the Editor -

Looking backward over the year the page of history that has been written contains some high lights and some dark shadows. It is easy to look upon one side or on the other, to paint a picture of a valiant fight successfully concluded and to point the way along a path of easy comfort, of prosperity, and of peace. It would be just as easy to become a purveyor of gloom; to reveal the decadence of our time, to dwell upon the corruption, to give way to a spirit of cynicism and to relinquish hope for the future. It would, I say, be easy to take either path. And yet the mind recoils from such action. Why? The answer is simple enough, because our common sense tells us that both pictures, the bright and the dismal are each as false as the other.

The better way of life is what the Chinese—a truly wise people—described as following the golden mean. The English mind particularly recoils from extremes. Extremes, according to the English tradition, are never in good taste. To be excessively wealthy or weak, to be excessively strong or poor offends. We say that such excess of power, of strength, of wealth, is unnecessary. What we really mean is that it indicates an unbalanced life. Personal gratification has been carried too far or, conversely, the lack of self-interest has been so great as to impair Nature’s endowments of the individual. This essentially sane mind attitude, however, can easily be misinterpreted. It does not mean that small pecadilloes may be tolerated and little sins condoned in order to rub along easily. It does mean that in an imperfect world one cannot have a community of the Saints next week simply for the wishing. Now, you will be asking, where is all this leading us Jo? The answer is back to my first point—the year that is about to close has been a period of light and shade.

History is sometimes regarded as the record of human travail. Perhaps it is! But sometimes similies help us to understand things in a more sympathetic way than do a catalogue of facts. The specification of a railway engine leaves all but engineers quite cold; but a picture of that same engine belching forth smoke, snorting steam, and moving forward tn a seeming consciousness of tremendous power lights up the mind in a way that is irresistable. Let us regard history, then, as the painting of God’s great canvas. Now, every one of Turner’s paintings has perfect black and perfect white in it somewhere, says Ruskin. It is the contrast in colours which give life to a picture. When an artist keeps to a few colours he must make tremendous variations in the shades to impart vividness into his composition. Now, bearing this technique of the painter in mind, how shall we look at current history? Does it not put us on the right track to see the light and shade of the great human drama called history in due proportion? There are indeed dark clouds over the world to-day. Let us look at them! There is that unwarrantable act of wholesale brigandage, the Japanese invasion of China. There is that unspeakable atrocity of a campaign going on in Spain, misnamed a civil war, where the rebels could not sustain the efforts for a month without very substantial foreign aid. There is Germany’s dominance of Central Europe and the spirit of that dominance is unsettling the world. There is the widespread persecution of the Jews, and in Germany it has gone beyond the unfortunate members of this race and has started upon the various Christian communities. The martyrdom of the great Pastor Niemoller of the Confessional Church continues. The persecution of that patriot of Austria, Dr. Schushsnigg, continues. The United States of America, in this welter of woe, still strives to make a showing of standing for the right without allowing it to cost her anything. People in South Africa are vocal about deserting the Motherland in case of war, while in New Zealand an indifference to the defence of hearth and home is a marked feature of our public attitude. Only recently a visitor remarked to me: “In Germany and Italy youth is on the march, while in Australia, and in New Zealand youth is lying in the sun. The former must arrive somewhere. Where will they arrive?" Disturbing thought that!

Now to what are these dark clouds balanced against? In the first place I would balance that of a greater reality of the world itself as a community from which no nation may retreat. That may not sound much, nevertheless it is a decided gain. During the heyday of the Geneva experiment some enthusiastic people wanted to move too fast and go too far. It was believed by some that an era of international law was about to be ushered in, that justice was about to come into her own in a manner similar

lo the administration of justice in a British community. People who live sheltered lives cannot appreciate that justice is a dearly won prize which has recently become the possession of favoured peoples only. It should not be forgotten that even in the United States of America justice is as yet an unattained ideal. It should surprise nobody that the League of Nations conception failed to fructify wholly. Notwithstanding the failure of the League ideal, and of the mixed motives which operated to support the League, it is still a matter for gratification that the League experiment has been tried. It is surely something that, despite the recalcitrant conduct of the Dictators, despite their glorification of the doctrine of Force, and notwithstanding the measure of success which has come to the Apostles of the Sword, their terrible doctrine has not found universal acceptance. Indeed, only recently that which Dictators have lived by and for has been decisively denounced and a deep repugnance of war than ever dwells in the hearts of mes and women throughout the world. The easy acceptance of justice has been disturbed. Men and women have come to realise, as Fletcher, of Saltoun, observed: He only has rights who dares maintain them." But a man cannot successfully maintain rights for himself and ignore his neighbour’s rights. The rule of right must perforce be common within the community. The challenge to this rule of right is the outstanding feature of to-day, but equal with it is tl e acceptance of that challenge and the effort to counter it while yet seeking to avoid the use of force. That is a decidedly bright spot to-day. It is the foundation of future hope. Another bright spot is the great wealth of compassion for the unfortunate which exists to-day. ...The Fascists hirelings in London may protest against Basque refugee child en being given a haven in England, wa ch contrasts strangely with the tenderness of those words which have resounded over Europe for twenty centuries, “Suffer little children to come unto Me.” There are people and professional organisations who look with the limited vision of self-interest upon the whole problem of the refugee. The mass compassion of the people, of the ordinary average man and woman is, however,• so great that these selfish people are walking warily, at least for a time. The picture I know has the defect of being unfinished, but it is a heartening effort to compare the present situation with that which existed at the beginning of the present era. Then Pax Romana reigned, but the Roman Empire was about to break up. In Palestine a great national effort was soon to be made to throw off the yoke of Imperial Rome—a fight that failed. Soon the Dark Ages were to close over Europe and the whole Continent was to know centuries of strife and turmoil. Yet it was the hands of martyrs who shielded the Lamp of Faith which guided men ever upwards. I rejoice to-day to find so many of the Faithful, the tenders of the Lamp who are, like the Great Martyr, prepared to hold fast, even though the flames devour them. So, even in these times, as we approach Christmas, I feel that it has not lost its significance. lam not much concerned with its candy and holly and pudding-eating aspects —although they have their place—but I am deeply moved by the justification of the Christmas message which I discern in the warp and woof of current world history. If I may intrude a personal note, here I must confess that lam not a pacific person. lam more happy when lam crusading for a cause. Consequently I am more aware of the things which have to be righted than of those battles which have been won. It is good, however, to look back sometimes and compare the milestones of the years. Despite present turmoil we have travelled a long way and we have vast stores of Faith to draw on for the future. I do not despair. Therefore, despite Death and Dictators, despite the selfishness and the cynicism of the age, despite its vulgarity and it shallowness, 1 still believe that we can approach this Christmas season with thankfulness and Faith. Therefore I bid you, my readers, to be ol good cheer for the Light shines on the clouds and the Light which came into the world in Bethlehem shall continue to shine in beauty and in strength.