Paul’s advice to the Philippians was, “Let your moderation be known to all men.” And Paul was himself a splendid example of the true moderation as distinguished from that which is merely indolent and uninterested. Earnest, enthusiastic, loyal, there was yet about him a big and healthy sanity, a sweet reasonableness, and—what the extremist always lacks—an engaging tact. In other words, Paul was a Christian gentleman, and if you want to know what that means, read his letter to Philemon about Onesimus the runaway slave. There are blunt words with which a man can be felled as effectually as with the “grievous crab-tree cudgel” of which Bunyan speaks. Paul did not consider it any special virtue to employ such words. His Christian zeal did not lead him to make a statement in a way that would irritate and rasp a man’s soul. There is a certain extreme candour affected by some Christian people, who pride themselves on always calling a spade a spade. But if it hurts my friend to hear me say “spade” I know of no law of God that compels me to name the implement at all!
And then, lastly, we can have our goodness “evil spoken of” because it is so cold. It sometimes seems as if, in our day, warmth of manner had gone out of fashion. Ian Maclaren once said of our generation that it will “smile feebly when wished a happy New Year as if apologising for a lapse into barbarism.” But I don’t think any sensible person, not blinded by an absurd convention, cares for that type of rarified demeanour. No one likes to get a hand to shake which feels like a dead fish!
In one of his books, Dr. Dale of Birmingham criticised that line in Keble’s hymn which speaks about the trivial round and the common task giving us “room to deny ourselves.” “No doubt,” he says, “but I should be very sorry for the people I live with to discharge their home duties in the spirit of martyrs. God preserve us all from wives, husbands, children, brothers, and sisters who go about the house with an air of celestial resignation.” Ah, no, that’s not the goodness, either at home or on the street, which wins men. It is not beautiful because it is too cold. The religion of Jesus is something much more than duty-doing. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart. Whosoever compels thee to go a mile, go with him twain. Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as unto the Lord.
Prayer
From all unkind thoughts and uncharitable judgments; from all intemperate speech and behaviour; from coldness of heart and a frigid service, Good Lord, deliver us. For Thy Name’s sake. Amen.
XII
A Khaki Virtue
“God loveth a cheerful giver.”
2 Corinthians 9:7
We are proud to believe that, in the article of courage, our men are second to none in the world. They have glorious traditions to live up to, and they are adding to these pages—nay, a whole volume, as splendid as any in our annals. Yet it is not of our soldiers’ courage I wish to speak.
For we are told on all hands that there is another quality shining brighter still these days in the trenches in France and Belgium, in ambulance wagons and field hospitals, and in the camps at home, namely, cheerfulness. Again and again the same tale is repeated from one quarter or another—“our men are simply wonderful,” “they treat discomfort as a joke.” They label the very instruments that deal death among them with names that raise a smile. Nurses, doctors, and correspondents tell us that the lighthearted way in which our soldiers face pain and suffering and force twisted lips to smile has created a new record for the British Army. When the story of this war is written, and the world gets a nearer glimpse into those awful trenches, I venture to prophesy that the quality in our countrymen which will most capture the imagination and fill us with the greatest pride will be the gay, undaunted cheerfulness with which they faced it all.
Surely we who stay at home may learn something of that virtue too. For it is worth learning. Ordinary people who only know what they like, without knowing why they like it, have a very warm side towards the person who, when things are grey and gloomy, can keep cheerful. They would much rather see him come in on a dull day than a wiser man whose wisdom was a burden to him, or even than a pious person whose piety ran to solemnity and gloom. It is high time, indeed, that the tradition was broken for good and all which associates moral excellence with a funereal heaviness of manner and denies the favour of the Lord to one who, as Goldsmith has it, “carols as he goes.”
For the blessing of God is written visibly upon the results of cheerfulness wherever you find it. God rewards the gallant souls who keep their colours flying through every battle, even though they have to nail them up over a sorely damaged ship. If you want a proof that the hopeful and cheery way of facing the rebuffs of life and tholing its aches and disappointments is more in the line of what God expects from His children than the doleful whining temper, you have it shown
