CHURCH AND WAR

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2558, 4 September 1915, Page 11

CHURCH AND WAR

UNIVERSAL DUTY OF'SERVICE

"FORTITUDE" THE-NATION'S MOTTO.

■i . ...At the meeting of .the Representative . : > ; Church .Council,held, in London in .July . tho Bishop of London, moved:—"Tho ■ ■ Representative Church Council,! assembled,for since the war be- ■ o:; S al 1) solemnly affirms : its conviction that ~. '.i'i the .issues raised' by.-the present con- ; : flict transcend in .gravity any that* hare v : ever . confronted '.this'jnatioh i,and Empire. ■-. It. believes that.-these 'issues- demand the CKortion' of .all oitr deepest . moral and . spiritual .energies. It. calls; •V.; 'therefore, .upon all .Christian people—:' .' .... "First,. persistently, to -approach'.-'tlio ■ ... Throno of God in penitence and prayer, both public and private; r . - "Secondly,: -by-every,-means in their 1 ■ power, to discharge" in one or other of ; J: i.its : niaiiifold forms the universal ■ duty-lot, service; , , v "Thirdly, to promote, by example and" ; precept, the utmost economy in regard to personal and domesticfespen- . .diture, so- .that personal tacrifice. shall V", as .far-as; possible"set .freeHheiresour'c'es j of us alj for the services of the' State.'-': ■: . v After dwelliug upon the enormous is-: ~ sues , before the world; to-day, he : said that if- those issues wero at . stake; miglithe not:call-it a sacred cause?.."l . V have been criticised," the Bishop' con- - tinned, . "for rising : the words •'a Holy . ; Warj' - and whom .'I . so much .re- '. shall not: use' that phrase,: ■■■a: beoause .it may I carry with it. associa- . . tions . which -iio Christian. Bishop ought ■-.-■■•' to: be thought of having. But 1 will . . ■ say, , and I shall, continuu to ;say: that . . this is a sacred cause. I shall continue to .say that, every.man who fights, in it : ■ • is a hero, and that-every ir.an who dies 1 . . in it, is a martyr.", '.Urging the call to • national • penitence for national 6ins, the -■ Bishop' said we must not-. speak as ; 'though we. were without, fault,- 'hilt ' Tny^natioh'-is^fighting withlts back .-;;' ■v-,?t0:.-the.:Wall'vl; do. not;!feel'.that;it; is'-, the ■ time: to rub in its: sins: too: much." . nation- was making- an: appeal .national volunteers.. .There.might come a : . . -:timo when there would have to be,compulsory,.service; but-for the moment we ;-. v : ; ar£k ;asked' for ; vice. If tho- motion arose as .one x raan , to that we should J<ot want compulsion; ' but who was to.stir but the Church of God?; -Passing; on to tho : : ..i question "of thrift and - economy, '. the. . Bishop; declared-.that these must begin in :the dining-room and not in the kitchen. :-People who-lived; comfortably had got..to set'-the exa'mple,'ahd then it would go down to the whole nation. • His closing words were that the whole . thing must bo.seen through to the.end, • with "Fortitude" as,the nation's, motto. : . i Tho. Archbishop of - Canterbury,.;;, in .- closing tho discussion j said: No greater i ■ moment" , than vtliis has --.ever, come,; cr 1 cans come, in the - lives of any. of us.. .-No greater hour, has .'ever come in the .. .' nation's life; no greater hour in the ,; life of tho world. : /ro-day.: we, : as repre- ■ eentmg. a _ great section : of.;- English o people, -uiiitOj. as wo" pass this .resolution, in a quiet,-firm, unhesitating and , 'i <leliberate resolve that we will give our- ' selves']ust_: now to.prayer, to-service, and to sacrifice. ; mean to do it ourselves; wo mean to-help all those.whom . -wo can;, influence or aid.V: Eight cen- !. . turies ago a great cry ran like a, river- . of flamo across. Europe; and roso high ■>>. iu England. Men- were biddenito ,bind themselves to what they-then deemed . •; .to be very, '>sacred'.,cause, 1 •; andthey .-. ..did. it with 'the cry' "It,-is -the Will of: • '-God—Dieu le . veut." -.Tliat' meant,; as. . ' :'r,Wery historian. lmo'ws>! .and. • ;surrender,.".jfi-nothing...else did.;; The : • nord "crusade" -has, been vulgarised in ■ 'modern'.times.. I .do not use it;now. Wo'mean:;something.very different both ;in ideals, and in the manner, of giving .. effect to them from what; men-: meant . ; -V'.when_ttey used that, vears ago. But. we do .to-day,: ill the Jiighest' and deepest -sense, . enlist .our .'whole,powers, offer our .whole w'eans;- .!-• and, above all;'put|up our.wholc-heart-cd prayers 'for: a >cause ;which in .our very hearts we. believe to bo sacred in tho'sight of God and of thinking rnen-r :the cause ot righteousness, tlio cause . of' fidelity to '.'plighted :word,''the :can6e ■; of.; helpfulriess'3 :tbV;fto^''>weakef:''-thari ■ ourselves, is jiobler than' ;■ tlio inspiratipn 'of;; a:. "splendid, trust.' ; We are accustomed to talk-about the trust of our Empire and; its,.life. ,vTo- • day we feel it-to-the innermost fibre of our being. ,: It is solemnising, but it ' . is upliftingi inspiring. We- may almost 1 - say that it is cheering too. ' And.so as. 'we vote this'resolution .we pledge 'our- , ■ selves to something that-we,believeiGod lays upon us as a-trust. ,It is the Will of God that in this great epoch of : our ration's life—our Empire's lifo, ' tho world's life—we should, do our, .best. '■■■ Please God we will. . _ . • The resolution was carried, all the . .. .members'of the council standing.