The Sabbath

Waikato Times, Volume 104, Issue 17574, 1 December 1928, Page 18 (Supplement)

The Sabbath

FOLLOW THE LIGHT. Though your pathway r>e dark as the night Press on, and the clouds will be riven; For to him who will follow the light More light will be given. If the light of new knowledge brings pain, Causes doubting trouble and fear, Press on and seek knowledge again, And your pathway will clear. Your duty is onward to press, For the troubles that now you endure And the doubts that now you oppress More knowledge will cure. And even when faith seems to fail And knowledge no more gives you light, Trust your heart: follow Love, and ne'er quail! Love will lead you aright! —Alexander Small, in the British Weekly. FOR THE SOCIALLY DISTRESSED. Miss Margaret Bondfleld, M.P., at the close of her speech at the Autumn Assembly of the Congregational Union, read the following beautiful prayer from Queen Elizabeth's Prayer Book: "They that are snared and entangled In the utter lack of things needful for the body cannot set their minds upon Thee as they ought to do; but when they are deprived of the things which they bo greatly desire, their hearts are cast down and quail for grief. Have pity upon them, therefore, most merciful Father and relieve their misery, through Thy incredible riches, that, removing their urgent necessity, they may rise up to Thee in mind. "Thou, 0 Lord, providest enough for all men with Thy most bountiful hand. But whereas Thy gifts are made common to all men, we through our selfishness do make them private and peculiar. Set right again that which our iniquity hath put out of order. Let Thy goodness supply that which our meanness hath plucked away. Give meat to the hungry and drink'to the thirsty; comfort the sorrowful, cheer the dismayed and strengthen the weak; deliver the oppressed and give hope and courage to them that are out of heart. "Have mercy, 0 Lord, upon ail forestalled, and upon all them that sock undue profits or unlawful gains. Turn Thou the hearts of them that live by cunning rather than by labour. Teach us that we stand daily and wholly in need of one another. And rive us grace by hand and mind to add our proper share to the common stock; through Jesus Christ our Lord." MORAL COURAGE. "What are the ingredients of courage: Not insensibility, not bravado; but power, love, and a sound mind- said Sir Michael Sadler, Master of University College In a .•EMS speech reported in the Oxford Chronicle. The power which comes to a man who is in gear with the secret rhythm' of things and who acts, as a good painter draws, or a true poet sings or a saint prays,

through being at one with something that moves the world; love, which saves courage from being cruel and gives it compassion; a sound mind, because, it is judgment that directs courage aright and guards it against stupidity or rashness. "All these things arc common to the two kinds of courage, physical courage and moral courage. But a man may have physical courage and yet be a moral coward, and a morally courageous man may flinch from bodily hurt or even from physical discomfort. The English, as a race, have great physical courage, but are not so good at moral courage. We are afraid of public opinion. We do not want to be conspicuous. We cuddle the dangerous motto, 'Live and let live.' We think it 'good form' to be tolerant, unobtrusive, charitably silent even when we are suddenly called upon to decide whether we shall stand up against an evil principle or conceal our dislike of it under a complaint courtesy which amounts, in effect, to connivance. No nation- is as ready as the English to practise the customary conformities of what schoolmasters called 'corporate life.' Novalis was wrong when he said that every English man is an island. We are much nearer the primitive and live in fear of the public opinion of our tribe. Because we are so near the primitive, we get on well with primitive races. Our education, though it is meant to individualise us, is soaked in the gum of adhesive solidarity. In schools, at college, in clubs, in political parties, in social classes, in trade unions, we are too deferential to the opinion of our fellow members; good at a kind of organised loyalty, but weak in moral courage. I suppose that_ the 'improvements' in our education—very rea! improvements I admit in many ways—will for a time clothe us more and more into the cowardice of oonformily to the prevailing opinion of our group.. Therefore, outstanding protesting personalities are of immense value in English life. Such are those upsctters of applecarts, Lord Halifax, Mr Bernard Shaw, and the Bishop of Birmingham. Inside and outside, the Church of England needs courageous critics, not to teach it the truth, but to stir it up to ask itself questions. lam even tempted to say that, if Nonconformity did not already exist in England, it would be necessary for the Church of England to invent it. Anglican principles need to have something to push against. But shrugging one's shoulders and letting the critics persist in their misunderstanding is not courage. Courage—intellectual and moral calls on us to make an effort of thought, bids us think out. what we really believe and find words in which to express (lie parti-coloured iridescence of our thoughts, and then to speak our mind with power, with love and with a sound judgment. Courage admits its own faults, but does not let a cause which lias been committed to its care go by default, either through mental indolence or through wanting to make the best of both worlds. The so-railed hypocrisy with which all Europe charges us, is often tactful compliance with incompatibles. This gets us into difficulties from which wo should be preserved if we had moral courage as readily at command as physical courage."