THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS.

White Ribbon, Volume 41, Issue 488, 18 May 1936, Page 1

THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS.

The league of Nut ions has l**en much in the forefront of the news lately, and many have questioned whether it is a failure or not. The League is a magnificent ideal, it is a conception in accordance with the teachings of Jesus Christ. Its aim is Christ-like. To gather all nations into a common brotherhood, where disputes can be settled by each one learning to bear and forl**ar. There can be no question of the need of such a tribunal to stop the terrible effect of an appeal to force. Then if an ideal Is Christ-like, if it i.s needed for the peace of the world, how can it tail? Hut it takes time to realise our ideals. To transform the ideal into the actual is a long and oftimes a costly process. How long depends on what each is prepared to sacrifice for the* Lrood of the whole. Individuals in a community were long in learning that they must sacrifice their personal desires when in conflict with the good of the community, and this lesson is only partly learnt now. How much more difficult to get this spirit of self-sacrifice into a commonwealth of nations. And yet it must Is* ot there if civilisation is not to perish. And the* league of Nations is a small beginning, the start of a long uphill trek leading to international peace and fellowship. Of tiie need of this no two opinions can be held. Stanley Baldwin, speaking in the House of Commons, said: “I have been made almost physically sick to think that I and my friends, as well as statesmen of other countries of Europe, 2000 years after the crucifixion of our Lord, should be spending our time seeing how we can take the mangled l>odies of children to hospital and keep poisonous gas from going clown the throats of the people. It is

time that the whole of Europe recognised that.” But even Europe has not yet recognised it, and still longer will it take for the world to recognise it. The League failed to save Abyssinia. Why? Because it is not yet a league of ALL Nations. lk>es any sane person think that Mussolini would have dared to treat our Ethiopian brothel's and sisters as he has done if he had felt sure that all the nations of the world would have outlawed Italy for its dastardly act? Had Italy known for certainty that EVERY nation would have refused to trade with her, would have used every peaceable means to block her, she would not have dared to start such a war. Hut because of want of unity among tin* nations the League* failed to stop tin* ghastly horror of Red (Voss hospitals Isunbed and non-combatants wounded and killed. Shall we blame the Teague for failure? Nay, blame the nations who would not support it. And let all resolve to use every endeavour, as Christian citizens, to build up such a spirit of love and comradeship among nations that unity of international action shall Is: possible. Ralph Waldo Emerson said that the* lesson of life is to l>elieve w hat tin* years and the centuries say against the hours. The hours have often cried failure to some high ideal, but the centuries! The hours .said Christianity was as good as dead, but the centuries! The hours said that slavery would never be stopped, but the centuries! The hours are saying that war i.s Inevitable, and t*ie only way to settle disputes, hut the* centuries! I<et us wait the verdict of the centuries. Let us bear in mind how much high failure overleaps the Ikiiiikls of low success.

WHAT LS A FAILURE? ‘‘There was a man who might have t>een a king, And ruled all the eaith supreme. He threw His life away to aid His race. Men .'.aid He was a failure yes, a fool, To yield a kingdom for a martyr's wreath. They died, and all their deeds are lost; His name still lives, by multitudes revered In every land, as deathless as the stars. And down the centuries still shines the glory Ol far (icilgotha and a Roman cross.” Miss Willard said: “Only the golden rule of Christ can bring the* golden age of man.” Christ came to bring peace on earth, and to His disciples He left His Peace. "My Peace I leave with you." After the defeat of Flodden field, a warrior urged his weary horse up to tin* City Hall in Edinburgh, and took from his breast a battle-scarred and stained flag, and presented it to the City Fathers with these words: “Sirs. 1 charge you keep it holy, keep it as n sacred thing, for the stain you see upon it is tiie life blood of your king.” Christ's legacy of peace was stained with His blood. And world peace, w hen it comes, will l>ear the stains of toil, of suffering, of self-sacrifice. And by prayer, sacrifice and service every Christian citizen can hasten its coming. “The crest and crowning of all good, Life’s final star is brotherhood.”