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Salient. An Organ of Student Opinion at Victoria University, Wellington. Vol. 22, No. 6. Wednesday, June 24, 1959

All this and Bill

All this and Bill

Sir,—Miss Anderson should note that sincerity does not imply anything more than being true to oneself—one can be a sincere rogue.

No one would deny that Billy Graham is being true to himself and there is no harm in that; every man should act out his own part to the utmost. But let us be honest about it, don't pretend that he is making great sacrifices or producing momentous effects. He is doing what he wants to do.

Evangelism enables him to travel widely, to meet the great personalities of the day; above all it gives him self-expression (as Salient so kindly gives me the same privilege) in the peculiarly felicitous circumstances of vast tumultuous crowds.

He Does!

If no one else benefits from Billy Graham's preaching, he does.

It is well to remember Wesley's peculiar efforts on the last century when much was made of his tremendous efforts; riding great distances on horseback, studying as he went, rising at 4 a.m., preacning as many as five times daily.

But he himself said what enabled him to do all this was that he preached five times daily; it released his internal energies so that there was always at every sermon one certain benefitter.

Too much is made of sacrifice— in the end all men do what they want to do. Schwietzer has not really sacrified anything by leaving cultural Europe for the Congo; that is what he most wants to do, it provides the most congenial outlet for his energies.

Even Christ in ascending the Cross was doing what He wished to. He could not have lived with Himself if He had failed to face this challenge. A man must live out his destiny or live in remorse.

I wish that some of our Colombo Plan students would raise their voices to proclaim the plain trouble that Christianity is not the only way to the spiritual life, it is but one of many—perhaps the greatest perhaps not. Certainly Buddhism has a much worthier record as far as tolerance is concerned.

No religion can do more than set us on the road. The spirit is within and the guidance that we need is to be found there.

Yours, etc.,

B. C Walsh.