The New Zealand TABLET THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 1915. A NOBLE PASTORAL

New Zealand Tablet, 4 March 1915, Page 33

The New Zealand TABLET THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 1915. A NOBLE PASTORAL

E print elsewhere in this issue the full text vvMmtn// of Cardinal Mercier’s great message to f \v»'\ his peoplethe famous Pastoral which [ ’ Germany has vainly attempted to suppress. It is, in our humble judgment, the deepest, most thoughtful, most eloquent, and in every way the most moving and inspiring utterance on the subject of the war which has yet seen the light. It forms, as it were, the coping-stone to Belgium’s glory. It stamps the venerable Cardinal as being, alike in head and heart, a prince among men; and one hardly knows which to admire mostthe greatness of the man, or of the Church and country which produced him. * Roughly speaking, the Pastoral runs along the following lines —an out-pouring of grief for his stricken country; an examination of the question, why have such sufferings been permitted to a people who have, in . the main, been so faithful to God; a vivid and most, touching description of those sufferings from personal and first-hand knowledge; a vindication of Belgium’s attitude; and words of direction and encouragement for the future. These points need neither elaboration nor comment at our hands; we only ask our readers * to read for themselves, and we venture to say they will find themselves touched as they . have never yet been touched by anything they have read in the history of tins war. What could be finer, more simple yet more profound, more moving yet more eloquently effective, than his answer to the anguished cry that must have so often burst from the lips of his bruised people: ‘Why all this sorrow, my God? Lord, Lord, hast Thou forsaken us?’ In the midst of his grief he looked upon the crucifix, upon the picture of the bleeding Saviour, and at once came resignation and consolation, and the murmur died upon his lips. ‘ The disciple is not above the Master, nor the servant above his lord.’ There is the answer to the great mystery in a • single sentence. We have read • many and learned attempts to answer the great riddle of this war, but nothing at all comparable to the simple hut sublime exposition of this master Christian. * Cardinal Mercier’s apologia for his country is characterised by the same simplicity and directness, the same strength of thought and felicity of expression, which mark the whole of this glorious Pastoral.. The apologia was not really needed. But its terseness and manly vigor, its dauntless spirit and honest and uncom-

promising straightforwardness, make us thankful that it has been placed upon record. ‘ Belgium was bound in : honor to defend her own independence. She kept her word. The other Powers were bound to - respect” and to protect her neutrality. / , Germany violated her oath ; .England kept hers. These are the facts. The laws of conscience are sovereign laws. We should have acted unworthily had .we evaded. our obligation by a mere feint of resistance. ■ And now ;■ we would not rescind . our first resolution /we, exult in it. Being called upon to write a most solemn page in the history of : our country, we resolved that it should be also a sincere, also a glorious page. ' And as long as we are compelled to give proof of endurance, so long we shall endure.’ In spite of all that has been, is being, and will.; be suffered, there is not in the minds of the gallant Belgians the faintest shadow of regret. ‘ Across the smoke of conflagration, across the steam of blood,’ there is not one who would be willing to cancel this last page of their national history. • /■ * It is natural that the German authorities should have winced at being told in plain terms that ‘ Germany violated her oath; England kept hers.’ It is natural also, considering their now well-known designs, that they , should have been displeased when the Cardinal in J frank but measured words declared : ‘I hold 'it as part of the obligations of my episcopal office to instruct you as to your duty in face of the Power that has invaded our soil and now occupies the greater part of our country. he authority of that Power is no lawful authority. Therefore in the soul and conscience you owe it neither respect, nor attachment, nor obedience.’ But it is equally obvious that the arrest of the Cardinal and the attempt to suppress the Pastoral were at once an outrage and a blunder. So far from suppressing the document the German policy has been the means of giving it a magnificent advertisement. The first and immediate result has been to secure the instant publication of new editions of this great moral instruction in French, Flemish, English, and Spanish, and effective arrangements for their distribution throughout the world. The document will, in fact, become a classic in the already voluminous literature of the war. Doubtless when this, the greatest war on record, is ended, each of the Allies will publish a standard and official history of the struggle : and it may be taken as certain that in each of these epoch-making publications the noble Pastoral of the noble Cardinal will find a high and honored place.