Matter of Fact
GRIN AND BEAR IT
By Liclity
4 The Stat man. Salem.' Oregon. Thursday. Pec 23, 1847
,Wo Taoor Sway $ Us, No Fear Shall Awe"
Press Fhrt UrtHBii, March tt. lt51t
THE STATESMAN PUBLISHING COMPANY
CHARLES. EPRAGUX, Xdltor and Publisher
Member ef the Asseclated Press
fh AiNebM Press la entitled exelasfvety to lh m fee repebu
patloa ef 1I the focal sews printed Is this newspaper, as wait aa all
A aewa elspatehes.
Miracles . . . and Christmas
' Why is Christmas? . : !
Why, every December, this caterwauling of the fragile,
-naive little tunea we call traditional carols; this annual irri
table rapacity born of holiday gift-buying; why this mask of
merriment? There isn't really a Santa Claut, Virginia.
Shall we be more charitable and aay that Christmas just
appeals to the never-quite-grown-up child in all of us? Legends
and delightful myths ara part of our cultural , heritage. We
respond with ingenuous amusement or wistfulness to the miracle
stories the juggler in the monastery to whom Majy appeared
or the Scrooges who are transformed. These stories ' are not
unlikesince they are descendants of the first and loveliest
of all miracle stories in the Christian epic the picturesque,
symbolic story of Christmas: The Virgin Mary, the Christchild,
the star and the angelic host and the shepherds believing, as
simple people are wont to do, that indeed the Savior is born and
on earth there is peace and goodwill unto men.
Very pretty, that Nativity scene on Christmas cards or
In grade school plays.
But that's as far as it goes. We hard-headed practical real
ists in a workaday world don't let it jgef any farther. We know
all about The Infallible Coherent Laws of Almighty Nature.
Miracles? Twaddle and bunk! OurfWise Men, the scientific
researchers, will solve all cosmic riddles as long as we sensibly
refrain from throwing ourselves sobbing at the feet of the 'Atom,
as one contemporary columnist put it.
But ... Is that all? Really? , ..,
Since we are such rational people, not given to vain hal-
lucinatkms or mystical contemplation of our navels, let us con-
aider this matter of miracles. For surely, of all the sensuous
pleasures accorded man there is none more exquisite than ra
i tional objective examination of a moot question, tracing in our
minds- the clean sweet paths of logic.
": To aid us in our scrutiny we have a new book, "Miracles
A Preliminary Study," (MacmUlan, 1947), by C. S. Lewis,
'Oxford don whose heresy is Christianity.. The text seems for
bidding at first but the argument moves precisely and swiftly
' once the reader establishes a receptive frame of mind and be
comes familiar with the trade jargon of philosophy and theology.
It is not easy, however. We are too accustomed to peripa-
tetic prolixity masquerading as intellectuality. We are uncom
fortable when dealing with fundamentals. We are. especially
, ill at ease when we match wits with a scholar whose uncom
promising' logic leads us suddenly to admit as premise a cosmos
defined in orthodox Christian terms: 1. God omnicreative,
omnipotent, omnipresent, not a nebulous Spirit which wound
the universal clock, set it in motion and withdrew, existing now
; only as a Force in Nature" or a Super-soul of which our indi
vidual souls are necessary component parts. 2. .Nature, distinct
from the Creator who made and actively, eternally directs her.
. S. Rational human beings, creatures, of God endowed with free
. will to elect their destinies.
Lewis distinguishes between Christianity and religion, be
tween miracles and miracles many of which, he believes, are
not" plausible, therefore imaginary. But he believes, and con
vincingly illustrates, that some miracles are proper, probable
and factual in terms of the premise and empirical experience.
I He defines the word "miracle" as an interference with Na
ture by supernatural power. A miracle does not violate the laws
-of nature which we regard as necessary truths (like gravity).
The laws are non-creative, they do not produce; they regulate,
they state a pattern to which events must conform. He says,
"A miracle is emphatically not an event without cause or with
out results. Its cause is the activity of God; its results follow
according to Natural law."
M Gradually, as we follow Lewis' dry (in the sense that sau
terne is dry) and unimpassioned exposition, we confirm what
in our better moments we hoped for that Christmas is indeed
a miracle. . . . The miracle of the incarnation of God occasioned
by the fall of man, necessitating Christ's death and ascension,
and fulfilled, finally, in the redemption of man. "The whole
Miracle, far from denying what we already know of reality,
writes the comment which makes that crabbed text plain: or
rather, proves itself to be the text on which Nature was only
the commentary. In science we have been reading only the
notes to a poem; in Christianity we read the poem itself," Lewis
explains. ; '
There is much more. This short essay leaves many questions
unanswered which are discussed fn the book. Lewis' examina
tion of the miracles of the Old Creation and those of the New
Creation, forecasting better than Wells the shape of things to
come, is especially illuminating.
Suffice it to say, as Lewis does, that the credibility of the
Miracle of Christmas does not lie in its obviousness. The nar
row shallow creeds of optimism, pessimism, pantheism, natural
ism, materialism all have "obvious" attractions, each confirmed at
first by many facts, each2 later conquered by insuperable obsta
cles. The doctrine of the Christmas incarnation undermines our
superficial opinions, shames our muddled rationalizations.
We of little faith, little hope, little love;, we of much con
fusion, much fear, much intolerance, reading "Miracles" find
that this is an experience akin
"Death and Transfiguration"
our own incisive philosophic
horns and lower strings, hut
French horns inject the persistent hope that we may come to
believe. J
. . . To believe the fraeile
tional' carols of Christmas, to
or knowing mat, u uod can erxect the original (Jnnstmas miracJe,
then the miracle of each annual Christmas, the miracle of event
ual Peace on Earth. Goodwill unto Men is likewise within His
V power and ours. ...
That is why, each year, there is Christmas. M.W.
Clemency to Draft Law
Christmas was an appropriate time for President Truman
to issue pardons to 1,523 who had been convicted of violating
the wartime service act. Some may be bitter that these men
escaped the risks of combat and now are released from prison;
but those who are set tree presumably are those who went ta
prison "for conscience' sake." The
be set free safely. ,
Of the 15,805 cases examined by a beard beaded by former
Justice Owen D. Roberts 10,000
4.300 Jehovah's Witnesses, 1,000
others. Clemency might well have extended te thai full roster
of Jehovah's Witnesses, for they suffered not from ovnscienfiaus
Objection to fighting but by virtue or their peculiar notions
about , state authority. Keeping them longer in jail "will not
Change their thinking. -
j
Residents of Panama who paraded so trrthusiasticalry -when
the assembly rejected the treaty continuing leases to the United
States for 14 bases will probably change their tune as they see
the U. S. pulling their troops out The withdrawal will hurt
them in the pocketbook more than retaining the bases hurt their
national pride.
to listening to Straus' tone-poem
- we are conscious throughout of
questioning, in minor tones or
simultaneously the violins and
enduring tunes we call tradi
experience the spiritual security
Violators
war feeing over they surely can
were classed as wilful violators,
conacientious objectors And 800
Br JOSEPH ALSOr aa
STEWAKT ALSOP
H4te.t
Washlagtea,
D. C.
-WAS&XNQTON, Dec. 14 This
is a Christmas whan there is no
peace on aarth and precious little
good will among men. The peo
ples long for peace. Yet hardly
more than two years after a ter
rible world conflict, the aggres
sive policies of the Soviet Union
have again brought the world
into what is technically called
"the zone' of war." And one of
the few Americans whom all can
trust. Secretary of State George
C. Marshall, has just indirectly
but frankly admitted that, for the
present, ' there is no use trying to
negotiate a settfement with the
Soviets. -
It is worth seeking to under
stand why this should be so. If
the experts are correct, the best
place to begin is at the ultimate
source of Soviet policy. The mo
tives, mechanics and methods of
Soviet policy making are another
subject on which most of the ex
perts of the western powers have
been at last induced to agree
among themselves. The events of.
recent months have produced
neer-unanamity oa the following
analysis:
The source of Soviet policy Is
the Politburo. In the hands of
this small body of men all con
trol of the Soviet Union Is con
centrated. Its members have ris
en to their present lonely emi
nence by ruthless struggle, by iron
determination, in cutthroat com
petition against uncounted rivals.
Secret conspiracy was the first
life experience of the older mem
bers. And since the establishment
of the Soviet regime, all haye
been engaged in a perpetual con
test, in which the prize was ab
solute, .power, and the penalties
for failure were exile or impris
onment or death. None has even
seen much of the outer world. All
of them, furthermore,- are high
priests of a new world faith. In
ternational communism; and while
cynical realism is common enough
among powerful ecclesiastics, even
the Borgias were not atheists.
The Mistake ef War Time
The mistake that was made in
war time was to assume that these
men were not very different from
western leaders to suppose that
they could be appealed to by the
same arguments and convinced by
the same marks of good faith, as
Ernest Bevin and Anthony Idea,
Secretary Marshall and Senator
Vandenberg. Yet even in" war
time there were already warnings.
One such warning was the con
versation between Stalin and Erie
Johnston.
Speakin with all the authority
of the Dalai Lama interpreting
scripture, Stalin firmly assured
the homned successor of Will
Hays mat the whole non-Soviet
world would be plunged in ghast
ly depression after the war.
Again, it was something of a
warning when Stalin remarked to
a high American official that the
works of Machiavelli were 'his
favorite reading. Machiavelli is.
after all, the classical analyst of
politics as a naked struggle for
naked power. This also is the
method of Soviet post-war policy.
And finally there was still an
other very grave warning indeed.
Stalin showed clear signs, at more
than one of the great war-time
conferences, of being deeply con
vinced by obvious horror stories
about his western allies, which
had obviously been manufactured
by his intelligence nets.
Here, of course, is another fas
ter, which Influences Soviet policy
probably more deeply that the
policy makers' life experience of
ruthless struggle, or the Marxist
indoctrination. The decisions of
the Politburo must be based on
facts, as facta are known and
understood in the Kremlin. But
war-time intercepts of Soviet dip
lomatic dispatches the Canadian
Royal commission investigation
and other evidences have now
established beyond doubt that
facts reach the Kremlin in fan
tastically distorted shape.
Again, this is inevitable. In the
Soviet Union, the Politburo lays
down the party line. The party
line la the sacred truth.
Party Line for Expediency
Anything that challenges the
truth is heretical and sinfuLThus
the Politburo may promulgate a
new party line for reasons of
pare, cynical expediency. But an
echoing, answering roar, confirm
ing this party line in every de
tail, comes back from embassies,
intelligence nets, communists
abroad, bureaucrats and experts
at home, press in Moscow and
every other possible source.' In
the end, what was said from mere
expediency must begin to con
vince even the sjsen who first
said it.
Stalin and his colleagues are
-far too astute to have believed
their own charges of capitalist
encirclement and imperialist ag
gression, when they first began
to make these charges as a smoke
screen to cloak their own imper
ialist program. But it is consid
ered entirely possible indeed,
highly probable that they have
now been convinced the charges
are all true, by the endless echo
ing of their own voices.
Thus we are dealing with a sys
tem whose leaders embarked
upon a program of aggression as
the natural result . of their life
experience, and have been con
firmed in this program by the
peculiarities of the1 system. That
is why .mere negotiaUon is hope
leas. As Secretary Marshall has
indicated, there is only one way
out. The Politburo must be con
tsssited with western unity and
western strength too great and
too unshakable to be concealed or
misinterpreted or ignored. Then
the Politburo may alter the policy
w tucn is endangering world peace.
Such at least is the working theory
of the western leaders.
Copyright, 1947. New York
- Herald Tribune, Inc.
the sjoalUy waa a little setter this year, desr
merely Imagine the larger pieces are Intactr
And A Very Merry Christmas
May It Be
Wm hope you like your gifts and if they came from STEVENS tve tvant
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qther words we tvant your gift front STEVENS to be perfect in every
way and we ask you to give us the opportunity to make it so and keep it
that way. Our sincere wish for the best to all of you on Christmas day.
e I
. t :
mi J ff -
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