THE COMING BATTLE.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1229, 11 September 1911, Page 6

THE COMING BATTLE.

o MODERN ATTACKS ON CHRISTIANETHICS, 'ADDRESS BY BISHOP SPKOTT. The Anglican Dishop of Wellington (Df« Sprolt) gave a very interesting nddrcs3 at a service for men hold in St. Paul's pro-Cathedral yesterday afternoon, in tho course of which ho dealt with the modern attack on the ethics of Christianity. Ho commenced by referring to tho idea of the Kingdom of God which is given such a prominent place in tho Gospels. For tho idea of a great" political kingdom and hopes of national aggrandisement Christ substituted a Kingdom of God in which, degrees of greatness were to lie measured bv service. The Son of Man camo. not to bo served, but to serve. Whoever would lie great must bo tho sen-ant of others; tho chiefest must be the slave of others; and whoever would bo supremely great must give his life a ransom for many. In other words tho dominant idea was self-sacrihco for the common good. Tho great battlo which Christianity would have lo face in. tho immediate future would not be that of the nineteenth century—the defence of tho supernatural character of tho creeds; but the real point of attack aud defence would be Christian morality. Tho Chrislinn ideal of conduct would bo the ground of .strife more than ever before, la this matter of conduct all men were compelled to lake sides, for we must act, and if wo act we must act' one way or another. In the German philosopher Nietzsche Christianity had an open enemy who declared that the Christian ethic was the morality of slaves, invented by slaves, and that ■the true morality was that of the masters. Hut the latest attack was moro subtle. It declared that Christ and His disciples were dominated by the belief that tho world was about to come to an end, and ' that Christian morality was merely an l interim ethic, and was hot intended or suitable for a world that was to last for centuries. It was, some people contended, a morality suitable only for tho deck of a/Sinking ship. Point was given to such assertions by the fact that wo were not as a matter of fact, generally speaking, living according to the principles, of Christian morality. No doubt it controlled the individual conduct of many people; but its influence was less felt socially, and still less internationally. However, it was not so visionary and impracticable as its critics thought. It meant sclf-sacri-. lico for the common good—service; and after all everyone, even tho most selfish, had to serve to a certain extent. The. question was the predominant aim in life, and it was for each individual to consider what was to be his predominant aim. Christion morality' was not visionary, but it was very difficult. Self-sacrifice for the good of others prevailed in many departments of life. It was the law of the family; tho Christian ministry existed to servo; it was recognised in the medical profession; and in great emergencies the Stato expected every citizen to lay down his life if need be for tho geheral good. Men of science, too, often gave up their lives to work which brought them no personal gain. It was contended, however, that litis principle of self-sacrifice could not be carried out in industry and commerce. There it must be every man for himself. But was it not just this selfish view of lifo that was the cause of .the great industrial evils which all right-thinking men deplored, such as those great strikes which recently occurred in England showing how a great city might be starved in a few days? Was such a system a triumph, of common sense? 'Such things were tho result of tho neglect of Christian principles. Was if a triumph of common sense that civilised nations should build up great armaments while thousands of their people wero on the verge of starvation? Surely this sort of thing was most impracticable. The logic of events was forcing us to see tho value of the Christian principle of self-sacrifice for the common good. Shut up all the churches and close the mouth of every preacher, and the neglect of Christ's principles would still bring Christ put forward no political programme. He chose tho slower method of gathering His followers in one by ont, and teaching them this piinsiple of service. Ho came not to bo served, but to servo.