The Wanganui Chronicle SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1941. OF SWORDS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 85, Issue 33, 8 February 1941, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1941. OF SWORDS

RECENT appeals to be relieved from military service has turned attention to such assertions in the Bible as “He who lives by the sword shall perish by the, sword.” This is a true saying, but a much misunderstood one. It can hardly be said that the people of New Zealand live by the sword because they, relatively speaking, don’t possess any. New Zealanders live by the cow and the sheep, and nobody expects those who live by the cow to perish by the lamb, although they might do so if they are as defenceless as sheep. It would be too much of a temptation for the. human wolves to resist. The people of New Zealand are not engaged in this war for a living: on the contrary they want it over and done with in order that they may return to their business of milking cows and minding sheep. If, for instance, a brigand chief established himself in the King Country, and carried out forays like the Highland rag-a-tail ruffians did on the Lowlands of Scotland, then they would soon make it plain to the rest of the community that such a way of earning an indecent living was insufferable to them, ano they would then take down the equivalent of their claymores and go up the Main Trunk and smite the brigand and his followers and put an end to their maraudings. But in putting an end to such an unhappy state of affairs they could not, by any stretch of imagination, be said to be living by the sword. The brigand chief would doubtless meet a sanguinary end, and thereby fulfil the truth of the saying so often cited.

The Bible is a good book which contains the Truth, and which points the way to the truth, but it is just as well to make sure that the unfolded truth lias been discovered, and not that a text has been found to fit one’s own thoughts and wishful thinking. There are many references to Words in the Bible, and they do not all fit in with a more resistant attitude toward life. It is true that the Master did not engage in war. but neither did He ride in a motor-ear, for the same r.eason that there were neither wars nor motor-ears in Palestine during His ministry. But the Master was well aware that in His doctrine there were the seeds bf dissensions and strifes, and He said plainly that He “came not to send peace, but a sword.” The Ethiopians were told that “Ye shall be slain by my sword,” while the Old Testament prophets, who were the forefathers of Christiandom, had quite a lot to say about the use of the sword. The matter of self-defence needs to be looked at from a common-sense point of view. Throughout Nature the Creator has provided His creatures with means of offence and defence, either of flight, camouflage, or powers of resistance; and the Creator expects the individual creature to use the means available to it to ensure its self-preservation. Man is a social animal and he must live in society. To preserve himself he must preserve society. In human society are to be found some men who are very good, and others who are intentionally very bad, and if no resistance is to be offered to the, bad men, then society can only exist upon the lowest possible level which the criminal elements shall decide. In such circumstances the sum of human misery would be greatly enlarged over what it is to-day, and human happiness would be very seriously reduced. The great majority of Christian men definitely refuse to permit such a state of anarchy to develop, and so they set up a police force to enforce the law withlii the community, and for precisely the same reasons take up arms to defend their country. Those who volunteer for military service are physically the most fit men in the community and, consequently, are best able to look after themselves. They, however, realise their obligations to defend their weaker brethren, the aged, the children, and those who prefer to do their fighting behind prison bars, and in' so doing they are obeying the Christian precept which enjoins a. man to lay down his life for his friend.

The foundations of Christianity were laid in the Ten Commandments, wherein a man is enjoined to honour his father and his mother “that thy days may be long in the laud which the Lord they God giveth thee.” How long would our days be in New Zealand if we did not honour our parents’ work by striving to carry it on to a higher plane, and to protect it from the despoiler’s hand? If the world knew that these islands could be occupied by anyone from Arabs to Hottentots, and that all the resistance which such marauders would meet with would be the presentation of some pamphlets, then the present population of New Zealand would be wiped out to-morrow, as it would deserve to be.

Mankind is to-day living in a world society, but so far a world order has not been evolved. War registers the failure of mankind to be the master of his environment. But appeasement has been tried, and tried again, and it has failed as often as it has been tried. To-day the very term appeasement is a byword because of the failures attached to it: to-day, therefore, there is nothing left but to resist those anti-social forces which, having gained control of some countries, is using them to promote war and destroy all that is best in the human heritage. Those who go out to fight, for the defence of that which is good, who sacrifice their careers, their comfort, their health, their life, are the protectors of the Divine Light in the world to-day.