NATIONALITY

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2621, 17 November 1915, Page 2

NATIONALITY

ITS PLACE IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD ADDRESS BY BISHOP SPROTT

An impressive address was delivered to the conference of the Church of England Men's Society yesterday by the Bishop of "Wellington (Dr. Sprott).

Dr. Sprott took as his subject "The Place of Nationality in the Kingdom of God." By a nation, lie said, wo meant a distinct group of human beings of tho same race, or a predominance of a particular race; a community of language, religion, and history, etc. Such a race had to bo self-governing. Ho held that such groups were natural, and not artificial. National characteristics, ho said, were as marked in tho oaso of a nation as they were in the caso of an individual. The Fronch group had marked characteristics which distinguished it from England or Germany, the same way as other nations were distinguished. A national group had a personality, and was capablo of responsible action, and making final contracts. It was also capablo of common consciousness. It was not a figure of speech to refer to the doings of a nation. .

Tho nation, he continued, as a personality, was under moral law, although that was denied sometimes now, especially by a- certain school of Germans, particularly that of Bernhardt As a person, a nation was entitled to complete self-government. Nationality seemed to bo a permanent element in human history, but the process by which the race had sprung from one source into strongly marked groups had never been clearly defined. But the great upstanding symbol of nationality was language. History, he thought, would bear him out in saying that he wore now witnessing tho birth of nations. What we had seen (vas Empires—Empires crushing nationality, and bringing it under one sway— here a Greek Empire, here ■ a Roman Empire, and so on. Nations, as ho had defined them, had not fully existed previously. History seemed to show that as soon as an Empire reached its highest point it began to decay:; The Holy Roman Empire had been slowly decaying away, and as it decayed nations were reborn.

A War of Nations. This was was a war of nations, and the only hope that there would be a lasting peace was, that national groups, even tho tiniest, would be fully recognised in the future. We were not witnessing the passing away, but tho birth, of nations, though Empires were passing away. Ho naused to say that he was . not prophesying that tfie British Empire would pass away, .for it was a misnomer to call it an Empire. The British Empire was a federation of selfgoverning nations, with tho exception of India. It was hoped that the latter would be taught to be self-governing. The wisest and best people of tlio Empire, he thought, would givo India the chance, after its different elements had, in the course of time, been welded iiito a true nation, to freely remain as a self-governing dependency, or to freely leave the Empire. Our so-called Empire was a new creation, differing from the old Empires, even the best of them, such as tho Roman Empire, whero conscription and taxation were forced on dependent peoples. Ho believed that when we set ourselves against nationality we were setting ourselves against Nature. At first nationality promoted wars, but in the end, in his opinion, nationality ivould put an end to wars. Nations Were mutually dependent, and our ultimate interests wero not 1 antagonistic. In the course of time we would come to see that. When wo did ho believed many of the causes of war would have passed away. Progress of civilisation did not mean the extinction of national characteristics.

Coal of Human History. Coming next to the Kingdom of God, the Bishop dealt with it from the point of: view of meaning the whole realm wherein the authority of God runs. • The goal of human history, towards which all oreataon arrived, was to have tho whole universe under that authority. The question came: Has nationality any,place in that Kingdom? Ho thought history bore out that nationality oould not he suppressed. The deep suly-conscious impulse at the bottom of the war was nationality. He thought Christianity Was bound to recognise it. The whole of tie Old Testa.nient_ testified to the value of nationality—it was The Book on national life. The Bible told that each nation was chosen by God, and the mistake of tho Jew was that he thought' his was the only chosen nation of God. The place of a nation in the Kingdom of God was the place of a province in the Kingdom of God, and tho Church of God could .not ignore nationality. Work of the Church. When tho Kingdom of God had fullv come, according to the Book of Revelation, ,the nations would "walk in the light of the Oity of God," and kings would bring their glory and honour into it. As we approached it, nations would begin to realise that they were brothers. Nations were already aware that they wanted scope for their own individuality. They would realise in time that other nation's had the same rights. Equal consideration, and tho welfare of each group, would evolve in time, and the causes of war would drop •off. It was the work of the Church, to strive to bring that about. The Church should raise the national endowments to, a high plane. He thought the present war showed them the way their light Jay. They could not crush a national, conscience, and therefore they should try to revive it, to redeem and purify the'nation to see its divine place in the kingdom of God. For the full life of the Knigdom of God all were wanted, each had. its special contribution to make, and nations should bo made to see that nothing was gained by tho dismembermont of one I another.