THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK: Keep hopeful
"OUR Paris correspondent informs us of the death of Dr. Karl Marx, which occurred last Wednesday, in London. He was born at Cologne, in the year 1818. At the age of 25 he had to leave his native country and take refuge in France, on account of the Radical opinions expressed in a paper of which he was editor. "
So began a fifteen line obituary in 'The Times' on Wednesday 14th March, 1883, which ended with the following tame observations: "He wrote pamphlets on various subjects, but his chief work was 'Le Capital,' an attack on the whole capitalist system. For some time he had been suffering from weak health."
For the best part of the 20th century, Marxism was a force which exerted a sinister influence over half of the world's population, and which still holds a considerable number of nations in thrall.
Yet when Karl Marx died he was an obscure figure to many of his non-socialist contemporaries, as the paragraph above demonstrates. In that obituary, perhaps the most striking words are the opening ones, "Our Paris correspondent." No one in London, where Marx died and was buried, seemed to have noticed.
All of which goes to show that we can never really tell which are the truly decisive events of history, or of our personal experience.
As the Bible says, "You do not know what a day may bring forth" (Proverbs 27;1).
Charles Dickens, writing of his hero Pip in 'Great Expectations' makes this observation, "That was a memorable day for me…..Pause you who read this, and think for a moment of the long chain or iron or gold, or thorns or flowers, that would never have bound you, but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day." Only in retrospect can we perceive the truly significant.
A pulpit master of the past, the American Harry Emerson Fosdick, first noted some significant facts about the year 1809, fully two hundred years ago. In that year, Napoleon had Europe by the throat, having captured Vienna, and won crushing victories at Ulm and Austerlitz.
Everyone, contended Fosdick, was talking about battles, and nobody was talking about babies. But what significant babies were born in 1809! Abraham Lincoln was born in 1809, so too was William Ewart Gladstone, four times British Prime Minister. Alfred Tennyson the poet , Felix Mendelssohn, the composer, and Charles Darwin, the biologist.
While Napoleon was bent on destroying all who resisted his power, God was bringing into his world others who would immeasurably enrich it.
he outlook for 2009 may not be too bright, with the 'credit crunch' taking deeper hold, and unemployment queues lengthening.
But be prepared for pleasant surprises, in this, God's world. As one observer opined, there are two incontrovertible facts: you can always hold out a little longer, and you never know what is around the corner.
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Weather for Coleraine
Wednesday 08 February 2012
Today
Heavy rain
Temperature: 5 C to 7 C
Wind Speed: 32 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Light showers
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