ACTION THE SUPREME NEED

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2507, 7 July 1915, Page 4

ACTION THE SUPREME NEED

■: "..■■■■: "■ >tt , 3 L ,''-•• ADDRESS'BK BIS|O^SraOT^ mi!ST|IlS| FORC£ _ ' /,\V* - TKoVseoondVossion' of. th§ twentieth :'synod -of. the diocese of Wellington was -.-opened.vin'St.-'Paul's Schoolroom yesterday: afternoon, when., the presidential address by tho Bishop ,of Wellington i . (Dr. T. H." Sprott)y doalt-almost wholly with the war. . "It'would not, I think," ho said, "be - fittingrfhat; this .body of representative, churchmen should 'assemble .without ■■;' a>me';':'consideration -"being : ;given, to' tlio : immense problems raised by the war. It may, indeed, be urged that this is not- ; the time for academic discussions; that tho time demands that all energies of mind and body shall bo devoted to tho. one object of bringing the war as quick-, ly as.-possible to a successful issue. I . grant "that, action is- the supremo, need .;at, this,,'hour. It is the simple truth thatvjthis : Empire of ours,' product of generations , of brave defianco .of •i aangor,ij)atient-endurance of hardship, lavisllk expenditure of blood and .treasure; has .reached tho crisis; of, its .fate, ' and jihafeHheVquestionvwhether. it- is to bo -.to: ibe, istrembling ; in'i the balanco. whole-souled action; is tho supremo need and the supreme duty. Nevertheless war raises its problems, and if they aro - not.-to be dis-, cussed when,they are really, occupying men's minds, when are thoy to be discussed ?.<r I propose to ; confine myself to questions which as Christians we aro bound'to consider; andJbthink I shall. bcst7achiovo my purpose if Irgroup my. thoughts around?-the (subject-of prayer in timo.of war/--K ' Pleasure as Usual! inKtho;.:war %/church paper oontamed affl- art-iclQ''headed-''A"__Nation .at Prayer-! 1-' Tlioreris,-- of course, some ~ esaggeriitibli ;-in'"the .phrase; as in all such . catchwords. There t are, I fear, many people m tlio Empire and in New : w£o.>{do;-npi;' seem to give the' : war -a- prayerful-thought. 'I do not think 'thati-anv more unhappy .utterancor-un-happy,, I mean, in its results—has been ' madei since the .war began; than, Mx:;As-; quith!s carly advice, . 'Business as usual!'( Doubtless, as him, the. words were simply a; colloquial rendering of St. Paul's counsel -to those - Thessaloman Christians, < who, i .believing thatf-the end of.all things was at hand, ''liad-becomo;*excited, restlessy.idle," count-ing-sit superfluous toljcontinue -v work-'jing-rr.'Stnve "to !be calii and to do your a few peoplo as usual'-has been interpreted |,to fmean .'Racing as usual, - amusement ,• is.fi^uil,.spl^ur&T/as'.'-nsuaj^-. Tt is to. ;.me";'passing 'strange'that' peoplo'should' |so act at war .time'when nationsaiid em-, j.pires: are>engaged in .a titanic struggle' faf life and death, to which human hisno. parallel;' at a time, too, |when' tlie esistenco or our own Empire Fiis tftmbling in the balance. One would iithink that in such a spectacle there is tltat,;-which'; would awe and subduo all of us. I do not mean that people' should go about>wringing' their- hands, v But, , surely, there is a gravity, - a sobriety, |of 'thought and demeanoui- which alone f'befits, mem who are witnesses of, parti- ' cij?ators'in; so. vast a tragedy.y ■ ■. A - ii iWar »Subject For Prayer. "Yet many_ thoughtful people," conltinued tho Bishop,, "find: real difficulty •iui'making the; war ai subject of prayer, . except, : pideed, tliat it .may -be endcd ■as speedily as possible/; Are there liot, rtiiey-T-rcfect, - many -good and,: : earnest people_ in each and - all' the belligerent countries?. Are .they; iiot all convinced of the righteousness ;of their own-coun-try's ciuse? 'Are they not all praying? . we not ' told, for example,. of. a : -great v religious: reivival in Germany P ajl these prayers cannot be answored; for aro not the suppliants asking for incompatible and contradictory blessings ? Must, we not conclude i.tliat .prayer .in such a matter as war is - ttvholly out' of. place and- futile? We • •shall,. ! think, admit that wo have; here sno,.. mere , academic question; but one .Vwliich': tho very heart of our. jChristian livirig. It is a'.-.day of the, . ..'exposure of shams.' Are our war pray-*-ers a: sham ?" .. ' ' ..

; After, dealing exliaustively with the "Our pray-: !ers, .-tlten,' in contrast with ; those of l.tho ancients, must bo controlled by the ••fundamental principle of all ethical rePtigioin; that God is' only interested in I tho -triumph of . right. -i :. Among ytho s'ervices .which :the|Church-can renfder at this hour there 'can be' none ('.greater than that.: She should, lift up unceasing prayer.,. - But the, of all prayer to-, an Ethical Being is purity of motiveiV . , , • i 'Judging by a False Standard. ,

:"Our danger; at the present ■.moment is- that of judging ourselves |by a; false standard.. Daily now for Woven months wo liaro been hearing of - the iniquities of the Germans, end the Germans are our enemies. Are we not all too likely to be content with conjtrnsting ourselves with them. ''We :aro not,"-wo say, ''breakers of treaties, | ravagers of .neutral countries, wrcckers {.'of churches, . slayers, df;jvom'en:' and chilj ; dTen;tteveii as Germans.^-.''Do'.wa • not Realise, that- thisMs thew.very;.-,tem-per ajid'toiie of the Pharisee, ivhose .? praygr, our Master Ohrist tells us, God :does-not answer? I • Ifvyou ask- me ; .h'ow a.' nation which .did possess the .''.Christian--, character •.would Jiavo dealt with the present crisis ..without thoappeal :.to arms, I "answer itliat I do' not lmdw.' '''Pe'rliaps if: there likad been such an entirely Christian '• nation the world, the crisis would .never have arisen; or it would- have jfceen less acute, for~.we. .must'-rernember , that a® the. ■Belligerent jiations by past '.wrong-doing ■'•Brought'" abdut 'the' conditions which .rendered 1 .:-.the 'crisis inovitj'able;. or wei might ; have had 'a wiser •diplomacy. ;

: 'i Our Answer to Belgium.. . ; i "Canon Scott Holland has ■again told .••us what'tho real effect would have been, lif whcir;Belgium-.appealed to us'in her (•agony, t'we had replied: 'Wo are very jj-sdrry, l>ut we -.have been .reading. /thes,Sennon|on tho Mount, and we cannot i'teep our word. ' AVe must advise ' you -.to take it lying down.' , There. would fihave been a- howl of derision, not froni : '■'Germany only, but from the ;: whole 1 liworld. SAnd'why? 1 Because'tlie world {m-onld not have believed .us. . The world (knows, .and we know, ifliat wo have not, pas individuals or ,as a people, been l.wont to'fashion our lives upon tho pattern of "the Sermon. The world knows, [kind we. kno : W,' that wo do not exhibit [the' diaracter set forth in the Beatitudes. rillio-'-world.! would liave ascribed our denial of Belgium's appeal to [■weakness of will, to moral indifference, 'selfish 'desire- of ease and luxury and pleasure, to meanness of spirit, panic, cowardice, in a word, to general dercadencej but not .to our Christianity, 'tod the wise world ..would have been " We" know, well enough, that 'for us, being what, we are, the rear alternative to participation m tho war, would have been our going on m our moneyrmaking:,' out pkasiuo, our, luxury, our'religious mdifreronco, mv. "ouoral looseness and-slackness. "Who ■ can deny that with all its suffering,.its ■ sorrow.-«its .loss, •m■ choosing -..wary, we choso the': better-part?"/,'. - "niaicoiiclilfeioti, it/henj of/our examination of. Christ's;-, teaching" regarding tho non-use of force .in '.the fionflifit Jgtfo,

evil, is not tTiat it is' not applicable to interJiationaL'affairs> Lut tliat there does not exist-to-day. a nation, entitled by tho genuine Christianity of its citizens to apply that teaching 111 its entirety. What, then,. remains r I answer that the ancient obligation to oppose evil remains. ' • Force to Destroy Evil. , I -"But: if tho better way be,not open to us; if ire'.cannot meld tho more potont weapon, because, as a people, we liavo failed to atjjuire tlio character which alone could Supply us with sufficient power; still our obligation 'to oppose evil remains, and we must uso tho weapon which wo have—the weapon of force. -It is a clumsy weapon. It is 'an- uncertain weapon'. - Evil can use it as well as good, and often with much.' success. 'Itf cannot, of itself destroy any evil. " '.We, see this'in tho case, of t'hoßo internal enemies ' whom we call criminals'.. Nevertheless, to use force against• tlieso'is yastly better- than internal anarchy, /which in'our present imperfeot_ state is".tho only alternative. And so in tie international sphere. Forco cannot really eradicate tlio. evil spirit of militarism out of Germany or any other people; but it may suppress its manifestations, and curb its .ambitions, and savo tho world from anarchy. All Energy Required. "I hold then that the Christian citizen will feel, bound to throw all his energy into this'. war, . while -also endeavouring- to mitigate its evils. The man who does this is, in my judgment, infinitely nearer the spirit of Christ's teaching than the man who' would haVe had- us, be. content with; feeble protests .no; enduring; of hardships sake. ' But ho will 'have grtat sorrow in \his heart that his country cannot wield the more potent weapon of : purely moral power, that were she to pretend to do so, she would only.'.wih.-tfoe.-World's contempt; because she lias not. been unmistakeably Christian and unmistakeably wrong; because there were toojmany ominous signs .of national; degMwacy. He will have great sorrow;': too',* "that the Church,' which should be tho fount and source of a people's; moral* energy, .has not'yet succeeded ;in .'forming a . single genuinely Christian nation. Yet since it is evil that we are fighting, and fighting with the we have, we:can still commit'our cause in prayer to God. Only,; thta sprayer" must be uttered ,in deepest; penitence -and contrition, that by our past unfaithfulness, we are too morally feeble to. wield the whole' armour of God." ; The Synod- continues its sitting's this afternoon.,,: m : , \ .