“Let the people know the facts and the country will be saved.”- Abraham Lincoln
THE LOST ART OF GOING TO PRISON
It was Peter and John who started it. A promise to “keep quiet” would have been enough; and there were other ways in which they might have told the excited crowd their story, without being provocative and standing up in the very Temple Square. But that wasn’t their way. Partly a sense of loyalty to the One who had so recently stood where they stood, before the Sanhedrin; partly perhaps an inner dignity which refused to be cowed by the threats of little men with much authority; anyway, their answer was given, and it remains a classic in the history of the fight for religious liberty: “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must be the judge; for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20).
Their example was catching. In many lands and among all classes of people – to bishops and servant girls, civil servants and school-masters and slaves – the choice came. Sometimes it was a demand that they should renounce their religion and utter blasphemy. Such must have counted themselves lucky: they were faced with a clear-cut issue of right and wrong. Often the demand was more subtle.
At the time the Government was organizing a great religio-nationalist festival, all that was asked of the Christians was that they should make a gesture to show their goodwill. The Devil was there with his familiar arguments: After all, a pinch of incense on the altar fire isn’t going to do any harm – we know that this is no god, and so the deed has no significance for us- this isn’t the right time to be provocative. The authorities expect it of a man in my position. It’s really an expression of patriotism more than anything else. What’s going to happen to the family if I lose my job? Some of them yielded, and they were given a certificate (a libellum it was called) to say that they had offered incense at the statue of Caesar and so proved their loyalty. (It is interesting that the word has been preserved in the English language; libel – the worst thing you could say about a man, that he had taken the libellum.)
There were many thousands who thought that perhaps Peter and John had shown a bettor way. A pagan writer has left a description of these people singing, with joy on their faces and in their hearts, as the soldiers conducted them through the streets on their way to the lions. Here and there chance has preserved a first-hand pen portrait of one or other of these people: the young bride with her new-born baby at her breast. She was 6nly a catechumen. The worst part of it, she wrote, was “when father came to the prison and begged me with tears to give in.” Another was the tough old Bishop of Antioch with a vast congregation in the new Colosseum at Rome to watch him be torn by lions. Others died without a name, and we wouldn’t even know of them if it hadn’t been for some pagan convert who later bore testimony that it was watch- ing their death that had brought him to Christ.
The time is inopportune.” How often we hear that phrase when we propose to do something which “they” won’t like. It must have been said to William Tyndale scores of times. Of course, it was a good thing to translate the Bible into English, but not now – not this year when the Government is carrying out their campaign against heretics. Wait till the old Cardinal is dead, then things will change – the time is not opportune; it will only arouse needless opposition. But William Tyndale was deaf to all their advice. He spent half a lifetime in exile, a hunted man. Finally they got him. “If they burn me,” said Tgn- dale,”it won’t matter. The translation is finished, and anyway it is only what I have expected.” They didn’t burn him; they strangled him instead.
In Ceylon we like to join with the noble army of martyrs in praising God, but we are careful not to join them in being martyrs. We don’t even go the first step with them: it is enough to suggest that such and such an action would be “provocative” for everyone to agree that it would therefore be inopportune.
We are well practiced in this art of being inoffensive. We preach a Gospel which is never provocative, and bear witness which we take care shall not be overheard. Some day a local Christian congregation will so far forget itself as to “declare the things it has seen and heard.” It may result in the parson going to prison and the church being burnt down, but at any rate “they” will know what we believe, and that we really do believe it.
IF THE FOUNDATIONS BE DESTROYED WHAT CAN THE RIGHTEOUS DO?
Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb. Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shall be fed. Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass. A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked. The LORD knoweth the days of the upright; and their inheritance shall be forever. They shall not be ashamed in the evil time: and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied. The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand. I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. But the salvation of the righteous is of the LORD: he is their strength in the time of trouble. And the LORD shall help them, and deliver them: he shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in him.
Psalm 37
