TALK TO MEN.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1546, 16 September 1912, Page 6

TALK TO MEN.

BY EEV. j". WATTS-DITCHFIELD.

: The Kcv. J. ■yVnUs-Ditchfield, who is at prc-cnt on a visit,to Wellington,, wider 'the auspices of the Church of Kngland lten'< Society, delivered' a characteristic and■ braciniT address to a "large audience of men at fhe Town Hull yesterday afternoon, the Bishop of "Wellington (Dr. ' 11. Sprolt) presiding. ..,'■• Mr. Watts-Ditchfield s was-cssenhally a jnan's address,'by a "wan who understood men and their weaknesses. Ho opened with a frank appeal to those present that they should cultivate in themselves, and in others with whom they .came in contact, the quality of genuineness—to "let their backs be ns good as their faces,; to have lib-dark and secret corner* in their lives or their thoughts. .He recognised i (hat there was to-day, an element of nnnesl-'douk , in the minds of some people with regard to the Christian religion. It was impossible foranyoiio.who gave tlio subject, seriOHS thoimht to reject the iipi)eal which Christianity made to the individual and the world. It was Christianity,, and Christianity alone, that conld'put the world right. , Such eminent scientists as were Newton, Herschell, Lord Lister, Sfokes,' Sir. Wm. Jtußgins (president of the British Assnciation), amongst others, were men of deep religious convictions; Gltidsione and Salisbury, in the political world: leaders of the Bar,' social ■ reformers, explorer!", and rliauipions of the submerued tenth like General Booth—fapplnusol—all testified by I heir lives and work to the value of Christianity as an inspiration , to greatnc*s of achievement. (Applause.) « The home, said the speaker, was the •most valuable part of our national life, and the nation hnd n. right to be thankful for the fact that the persinnl diameter and homo life of Ttis Majesty King George was a model to the people. (Applause.) A man was apt, in his conception of his duty to his son. his daughter, or to his wife, to "miss ihe main point," which was not concerned with the provision of food, clothing, education, and so on for their mnterial condition and prosperity on this earth, but with the greater life which included their brief t<>nn on earth nnd esended into the vast Eternal beyond. In conclusion, Mr. Waftf-Ditchfield mado an r-arne-st appeal for social purity. He urged men to t'n'ster n general abhorrence of intoxicatinc lifiuors. ■"I Imp, heard many a ninii, from the depths of his misery'of body and degradation of mind, sov thnt he would Jinve been far bettor off without, the drink," said the speaker, "hut I've never heard a. ninn say, in his grand old age, thnt be would have been better off with it." (Applause.) Ot a morn serious vice, the perversion of the functions of procreation, which, he said, constituted the most sacred privilege of man, and the most sublime endowment of the Almighty., Mr. Watts-DirAfield epoke very candidly and earnestly, and mode a strong appeal to his hearers to contribute, by their i-xarnple and by their influence, to" Ihe deliverance of soc-iyty 'front vices wliii-.li endangered the sdimimi of future generations, and wrought inile«cril>nWi>'miscrv cud shnnic. U)ion both innocent and fallen women. In the morning Mr. "Wntts-Ditrhlield delivered on addro?s at SI. Mark'-. Su.«r..x Sflu,i.r«, and in the evening spoke at St. .Peter's, Willis StaeU