INTERCESSION APPEALS.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16168, 23 March 1918, Page 4

INTERCESSION APPEALS.

NOTABLE ~ SERMON'S. | (kkou our own tonßEsro\iiEXT.) j L-OXDON, January S. A quite special significance was given j to Sunday, January f>th, as a <-ay of j national intercession by tho fact that • the Sunday hours usually oliserved by j public-houses were abolished, the bars ; remaining closed all day. Following are ; some of the kernels of the sermons. OUT OF TILE CRUCIBLE. The Archbishop of Canterbury, at j Westminster Abl>ev: —

"However humbie your part seems, vou are one ot those 011 wnoiu oeeii l.iid the trust of being a citizen of jUn gland in her greatest crisis-hour, j "lou are therefore one of those on whom j the issue depends ; for it turns, reinem- j her, as our lorcmost soldiers rem mil its, j on the spirit, the home-spirit, oi : her . people. We entered witlt one voice on ; a great a.lventuie of iaitii and lignte- j ousaess. tc had perforce to be decided suddenly, but it was decidcu unhesi- j tatingiv, ;.ncl it was decided aright. Nothing which has happened since throws doubt on the righteousness ot what we did. But muck that lias since happened, and is happening, tempts us astray from that main thought, that clear memoiy. liefuso persistently to let the clear current be made tnrlnd. . IJfmember, peace is not in itself an >, ideal. Peace is a condition wherein | ideals can be obtained. '.I he ideal is j jiot ikace, but freedom and liberty to batistv human aspirations, in ,]Oint iovaltv to our living Lord. In war with its rampant, horrors that linerty is impossible. It is because -we were convinced by <lailv evidence that the mind of our enemies still tuyns against Ji icrtv that we persist, and must persist, in o'ur task. Through all the detestable turmoil and carnage we must hold on, dauntlcssiy and doggedly, if \to would achieve those conditions; if. i« short, we would win our souls. Out ot tho crucible something worthier is surely going to comc. A liner sense and standard of honour between man and man. between man and woman; a sounder fellowship of common servicenational, international, political, civic, industrial, a truer and a more_ thoughtful recognition of what worship meant, a prouder and yet humbler sense of personal and separate responsibility, ' sellrevcrcnoe, self-knowledge, self-controi. Bo that your perseverance, and in it you will win yotir souls." The Bishop of London, at St. Paul's: "We have sorrow to-day—wo have tears; but the sorrow is a noble sorrow, and the tears arc tears of pride as well as grief. But if we were standing here to-day, having disowned our pledges, failed our friends, and tarnisncd for ever our reputation as a nation, no words would be able to describe the bitter tears of shame and sorrow with which every patriot would hang his head. We" were right; the gleam we followed was the true gleam ; the star of honour which led us on was the authentic star: the powers which we faced had proved themselves even more the powers of darkness than we thought. Jf tne dawn of the great day of freedom' antV Brotherhood seems to tarry, inav it not be that we have really* attei alf these 2000 years, not believed as a nation in this stupendous Epiphany? Can it be that while we light a Christian causo we are not sufficiently Christian ourselves? Do let us bow ourselves before the Mighty God, and instead of whittling away a miracle here or watering down tho stupendous wonder there, frankly acknowledge that the whole Epiphany is miraculous from start to

i finish; that God meant to do a | and startling thing in itself. >t is -lkwy j to be accompanied by startling events. I Archbishop Lang, at \ork Minuter: I "'lt remains to ' ,0 seen whether bj I faint-heartodness we lost or by f°V , • tilde won the full triumph of tho high l call to which we were pledged. A\e j dare not sav with impudent assurance, • that) God was our unconditional ally, j I.)ui: we could say and believe that tlie ■ purpose of God could not bo on the j s-ide of tho spirit which had plunged ! Europe into the war. National prajei, Ito prevail, must bo honest. Our tie- '■ .siro for peace mude it plain that tho I oulv peace that mattered was not one ! which would .relieve our anxieties, but ' one that must be assured and ttnal. : an;' which would vindicate the sacnliccs we had made. Victory was only pos- : sible with energy, patience, and further j sacrifice."