GOSPEL'S ETERNAL TRUTH

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 49, 13 March 1937, Page 15

GOSPEL'S ETERNAL TRUTH

At the Diocesan Conference at Yojk the Archbishop of York (Dr. W. Temple) devoted his presidential address to a consideration of the faith of the Chui'ch as "a prineiple of direction in practical affairs." He said: — "At a time when there is grave ansiety concerning the course of this world, oue main duty of the Church is to keep before men's minds the eternal truth of the Gospel as the oue aure foundation. ""'It is in the light of the truth, and only so, that we may hope to get our course wisely in ali the problems and dangers of a world that seems more baffling from day to day. Our age is one in wbich we are called upon to face some new, startling and bewildering situation almost every week. "What we need above all things, not only for our squI's eternal welfare, but for guiding our thought and action and, most important of all, perhapa, our feeling, is a sure grasp on something that does not vary, a permanent convietion about what is really important, and a scale of values by which we may judge with seeurity which interest or sentiment should give wpy when we are distracted by divergent claims. "One great contribution of our faith ip the supremacy of the spiritual over

all other considerations— oommercial, political, sentimental and intellectual. The more men are governed by material considerations the more they will be brought into conflict, and the more they are governed by spiritual considerations the more will they be brought ito fellowship. "The witness of our faith to the supremacy of the spiritual is also a guide into the way of peace. ''Wa think rightly about the world and our own activity in it only so far as we think of these as utterly dependent upon God. We still have the solemn responsibility to judge what is our duty, and to do it with the nitmost eonscientiousness; but if we do that we are no longer responsible for results. Eesults are in God's hands. ■ "If we are either defiant of Cfod or slack in our esercise of judgment, we are then responsible for the resultant harm. But if we seek diligently to know and to do God's will we have doke our duty, and the isaue ia in His hands. "It is a 'time of granite, ' " he said, "that we greatly need in a time of anxiety and bewilderment. Our Church will be safe and our nation will be safe if we can save ourselves from the fever that springs from a supposing that w« have to shape our own destiny and can both think and act and feel with that mingled sereni.ty and force which spring from faith in the Almighty and Eternal God. ' ' Such faith does not make men slack, but calmly xesolute to do and endure what God's will requiresj and it keeps them effeetive by saving from undue excitement, through the knowledge that, even when what seemed most secure among earthly things are ghaken, it is still true that the foundation of God standeth sure."