THE SABBATH

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21242, 12 October 1940, Page 18 (Supplement)

THE SABBATH

CHRISTIAN HEROISM : Heroism has various forms and | many qualities go to its composition, j | but it possesses maviy constant i'ac- j I tors. The hero is sell' forgetful; he i places the cause above himself and j bis oyyn interests. He is courageous ; i and, if protracted action is called for, | enduring and tenacious of purpose, j In most people there is a hidden re- ! serve of heroism; it witnesses to the ' j essential dignity of human nature, j Heroism is not a xdrtue peculiar to j Christianity, but there is a Christian I form of heroism. Christ’s ethical ' teaching set up perfection as the goal ; at which men should aim. and en- | larged the scope of conduct by making it include motive and the inner i springs of action. Consequently heroism found a peculiar field in the Inward Struggle for Character It is true heroism to refuse to admit j defeat, so go on battling against I temptation and to wrest from circum- i stances, however untoward, a spirit- ! j ual gain. When the fight begins ! ! within himself a man is worth some- ! thing. This is-a heroism hidden from ■ the eyes of the world but known to, and approx ed by God. | Of this type was the heroism of i Jesus Christ. He faced temptation j without yielding to it. He endured the Cross, going even to death for his \ fellow men. Throughout His career He kept steadily in view the mission upon which He had been sent. He lived a life of self-sacrificing ministry for others. The secret of His achievement was that He had disciplined His Avill into complete harmony with the Divine will. The result was-a personality cast in heroic

mould in which authority and graci- j ousness, moral severity, and o\ rerflowing love made one harmonious ! whole. The ultimate root of all heroism is j conviction of the worth of spiritual j values and of the necessity of preserving them. Men may refuse to be- ! lieve in God, but there are very few : who would deny that truth and goodness, justice and liberty are spiritual possessions which humanity must defend. Even a perverted sense of values can evoke a heroism of endurance and self-sacrifice. Heroism testifies to the fact that the spirit of man has kinship xvith an eternal realm of spirit. Man is greater than he knows, and his life is rooted

I i in the Divine. Here in days of stress and anxiety * is our true ground of confidence. We : j can “greet the unseen with a cheer,’’ because whatever changes the unseen may contain, the Spiritual Foundations of Life are secure. Our “citizenship is in hea\’en”; the true home of our spirit is the realm of eternal values. Nor . are we to think of that realm as ex- j isting simply in a distant beyond. Its ! powers are with us noxv for self- : discipline and encouragement; in the temporal we can find the eternal. Such at least is the message of j Christianity; for the Incarnation was j . the bringing together of earth and j

heaven, the entrance into history of 1 new spiritual forces from above. The meaning of Christianity as a historical religion is that God enters into history and releases His power for the uplift of human life. Co-opera-tion and fellowship with God are possible; man is meant to be an instrument of God. And the sequel to the early life of Jesus was a triumph- | ant vindication of man’s faith in the j supremacy of spiritual values. | From this faith in each generation lis born Christian heroism, which ! shines more brightly the greater the - darkness around it. St. Paul summed j up the situation when he asked, “if i God be for us, who can be against us?”