God and Culture . . .

THE WISDOM OF CHURCHILL

It is not difficult to believe that God used mightily the wit and wisdom of Winston Churchill. It was he that carried war-torn Britain to its finest hour, and surely this was on the side of right. Ouida and I have been reading together in the evening hours a little volume on the challenging words of Winston Churchill entitled Never Give In, with an introductory essay by Dwight Eisenhower.

It is good for the soul to thumb these pages and drink of the wisdom forged in the heat of adversity. Since his problems were of worldwide scope, it seemed almost impossible for him to be petty, and I agree with Plato that pettiness is the one trait that can never characterize the good man. Though he had more reasons to be proud than most of us, he was a humble man. Mr. Eisenhower comments that despite Churchill’s important role in world affairs he was devoid of pompous stuffiness or of indifference to those about him.

The wisdom of Churchill provides satisfaction for those in search of spiritual values. He has a way seasoning spiritual truth with a touch of humor, leaving one with something to think about as well as a chuckle. My favorite was his remark on his 70th birthday that “I am ready to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is ready for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.”

And what a way he had with words! In this respect we can all sit at his feet, as indeed the whole world has. He is one of the richest sources for quotations since Shakespeare. It was he that gave us “the iron curtain” and that described Russia as “a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.” And the world will always remember his “blood, toil, tears, and sweat.”

There is wisdom in his wit. Ouida liked his definition of a fanatic: “A fanatic is one who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject,” but I think this one is equally poignant: “What most people call bad judgment is judgment which is different from theirs at a particular moment.” And this one deserves a place in our church bulletins: “Some people’s idea of free speech is that they are free to say what they like, but if anyone says anything back, that is an outrage.” And in this remark the church may have part of the answer as to why she loses so many of her sons in their youth: “My various readings led me to ask myself questions about religion. Hitherto I had dutifully accepted everything I had been told. I had always had to go to church once a week. All this was very good. I accumulated in those years so fine a surplus in the Bank of Observance that I have been drawing confidently upon it ever since.”

We writers can profit from: “Short words are best and the old words when short are best of all.”

Some of the stuff is pure fun. Ouida and I got a real charge out of the story of his dozing his way through a boring speech in the House of Commons. The speaker noticed him and asked loudly, “Mr. Churchill, must you fall asleep when I am speaking?” “No,” he answered, “It is purely voluntary.”

There is the story that when he was a young man he wore a moustache, and one time he was dating a girl of a different political persuasion. She said to him: “Mr. Churchill, I care for neither your politics nor your moustache.” He answered: “Don’t distress yourself. You are not likely to come in contact with either.”

The thinking that led him through Britain’s critical years is summed up in these words: “Never give in! Never give in! Never, never, never, never—in nothing great or small, large or petty. Never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense.”

Churchill saw the world as fickle and irresponsible. He gave a lot of thought to the rules that man should live by. Ouida and I appreciated these weighty words, thinking how fine it is when parents and children alike can heed them: “The only guide to a man is his conscience; the only shield to his memory is the rectitude and sincerity of his actions. It is very imprudent to walk through life without this shield, because we are so often mocked by the failure of our hopes; but with this shield, however the Fates may play, we march always in the ranks of honour.”

To politicians: “It would be a great reform in politics if wisdom could be made to spread as easily and as rapidly as folly.”

To youth: “Don’t take ‘No’ for an answer. Never submit to failure. Do not be fobbed off with mere personal success or acceptance. You will make all kinds of mistakes; but as long as you are generous and true, and also fierce, you cannot hurt the world or even seriously distress her. She was made to be wooed and won by youth. She has lived and thrived only by repeated subjugations.”

To parents: “There is no doubt that it is around the family and the home that all the greatest virtues, the most dominating virrues of human society, are created, strengthened, and maintained.”

To a nation at war: “The problems of victory are more agreeable than those of defeat, but they are no less difficult.”

To the legalist: “The human story does not always unfold like a mathematical calculation on the principle that two and two make four. Sometimes in life they make five or minus three; and sometimes the blackboard topples down in the middle of the sum and leaves the class in disorder and the pedagogue with a black eye.”

Among his many spiritual insights this one is my favorite, for it teaches a profound truth too seldom recognized: “By a blessed dispensation, human beings forget physical pain much more quickly than they do their joyous emotions and experiences. A merciful Providence passes the sponge of oblivion across much that is suffered, and enables us to cherish the great moments of life and honour which come to us in the march.”

Last of all, we pass along to you his conviction that governments as well as individuals must face judgment for their deeds.

“If a Government has no moral scruples it often seems to gain great advantages and liberties of action, but, ‘all comes out even at the end of the day, and all will come out yet more even when all the days are ended:”

We do not know, of course, the measure of Churchill’s faith in God, or whether he was a Christian. But we do know that he was a source of great strength to the free world during its most trying hour, and we should be thankful to God for that and for him.

“Rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of him who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good.” (Rom. 13)—the Editor