"THIS GOD OF MIGHT"

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2584, 5 October 1915, Page 11

"THIS GOD OF MIGHT"

LOGICAL , OUTCOME OF GERMAN MATERIALISM. The aims and objects of the Lord's Day Alliancc were explained to tlie congregations which assembled at St. .Paul's Pro-Cathedral.on Sunday. .At the morning service the Rev. A. M. Johnson said the ..Alliance was not a vigilance society. It was not intended to tilt against this or that method of spending Sunday, nor to promote special legislation ; but to band together those who desire a better religious observance of the Lord's Day, and to secure it as a day of rest. At the evening service the Bishop of Wellington (Dr. Sprott) dealt with the same subject in the course of a striking address. He traced the commencement of the falling away in the matter of Sunday observance •to the spirit of agnosticism which made its appearance in the middle dfceades of tho Nineteenth Century. The agnostic contended that God was unknowable; but,, said the Bishop, no one can say what cannot be known unless lie- knows' all that is to be known. However, agnosticism caught on, and to many God hecame only a "great Perhaps"—and a Perhaps has no chance against' the stress and strain of the world. People came to regard material things as tho only/certain things, and the Divine Perhaps began to fade out of men's minds. This materialism took tho form of the worship of wealth and pleasure in Britain and the United States,-but in Germans; expressed itself in the worship of power; "and," said the Bishop, "you; see the logical result) of it." To this god of power human sacrifices are.being made; human blood is now flowing in torrents before the god of might. It is the logical outcome. Now that the human, race has tumbled over the precipice- we are coming to the conclusion that we have been on the wrong track. We will have to get back if there is to be no repetition of what is now going on. Wo must get back to a realisation of the supremacy of what is moral and right; the supremacy of God and Christ. One way of getting back is by a better observance of the Lord's' Day, which has become symbolical'of that attitude of mind which regards spiritual forces as supreme. One way to begin tho rebuilding of a better world would be to restore the religious, observance-in spirit and in truth of the Lord's Day. The membership of the alliance is to consist) of , all those who are willing to pledge themselves—(a) To attend Divine Worship on the Lord's Day unless prevented by unavoidable circumstances.. Ib) To discountenance, as far as may be within-their power, any such use of the •lord's Day as may conflict with its proper observance as. one of rest and worship. '(c)_ To do thoir utmost' to-creato, a healthier public, opinion and conscience on this subject.