“It is a far, far better thing . . .”

This is a quote from The Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, the book that begins with those memorable opening lines, "It was the best of times;it was the worst of times". The original sentence was, It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to, than I have ever known. The man speaking has volunteered to take the place of a man condemned to die.

What heroic, self-sacrificing deeds some people manage to achieve. How petty and mean such heroism makes ordinary, everyday actions appear. It never ceases to amaze me that in the midst of the most revolting and dark demonstrations of human degradation, the light of love shines forth like a beacon on a stormy night. Although many people prefer to hold their tongues rather than speak out against tyranny, there are usually one or two made of sterner stuff; people who hold that justice and fairness must be prized above even life itself.

The Tale of Two Cities was about Paris and London during the dark days of the French Revolution – a revolution that began with the highest ideals but quickly subsided into a reign of terror overseen by the infamous Robespierre. During that terrible time, thousands were guillotined, merely for being members of or for helping members of the former ruling class, the aristocracy. Similarly in Nazi Germany, people were slaughtered in their thousands merely because they were Jews. All through the ages, dictators and absolute rulers have invented spurious excuses for ridding themselves of minorities and stamping upon opposition to their ideas and their rule by killing their opponents, often by using the law to help them but using it without justice or mercy.

Sometimes an individual has the courage to stand up and shout, “Hold, this is wrong, enough is enough!” When that happens, it is something special, even momentous. Such brave people know very well that their words will almost certainly lead to their own death, usually not a very pleasant one and yet they go on. They are centres of light in an otherwise dark world and inspire others to emulate them until eventually, the tyranny is defeated. We stand in awe of such self-sacrifice, such dedication to their ideas of right and justice and can only ponder upon whether, in the same circumstances, we would be able to act as they did. Until we are ‘put to the test,’ we can never know for sure. Look at Judas Iscariot: Even though Jesus had told Judas he would betray him and Judas protested that he couldn’t do such a thing, yet when faced with the fear of being put to death as a disciple, he denied that he knew Jesus, and did it not once but three times. We never know and that is the reason why we should hesitate long and hard before sitting in judgement upon such people as Judas.

We are back to our old adversary, fear. It is fear of the consequences that prevents us from speaking out against tyranny and fear is a very poor counsellor. Were we not so in thrall to our egotistical, lower selves, we would know that to prize physical life above honour and justice and fair play is nonsense. We would know that our earthly life is not all there is to life; we would know that our true life, our spiritual life, goes on forever and that clinging on to physical life at the expense of supporting tyranny leads us into spiritual darkness and personal recrimination. However, such weakness is all too human and should not be a source of condemnation amongst those of us who have never had to face such a test. Rather should we thank God for the example of the brave, self-sacrificing soul who puts honour and justice above any concern about saving his own skin. Such people shine the light of love onto the darkness of evil and despair and help us to see that even in the darkest hours, the light of the Spirit is never extinguished. Out of the darkness of war and tyranny comes the beacon of hope and salvation.

Thinking about and thanking God for the example of such wonderful souls has helped me to understand those enigmatic words of Alexander Pope in his “Essay on Man”:-

“All partial evil; universal good.”