OXFORD GROUP

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 141, 1 July 1937, Page 6

OXFORD GROUP

Six Nations Represented at Palmerston Meeting OBJECTS OF MOVEMENT At an overflow meeting of the Oxford Group at Palmerston North on Tuesday night there were six different nationalities represented on the • _ platform— American, Canadian, Chinese, French, German and English. The Canadian, the Bev. J. Cole, who led tho n.eeting, told ' of new decisions which had led to greater vision. He intro-r-uced the Mayor, who extended a cordial welcome to the visitors. "No one needs to be told that we are livihg in the midst of a stupendous and bewSdering revolution of social and industrial life. Men want shorter hours, higher wages, and better homes} of course they do, but there is something they need more than these things. They want to know and love each ofhor, for the questions in dispute can nevcr be settled in an air of hostility," said Mr Mansford. "If they are settled at all, and settled right, it must be in an atmosphere of mutual 'recognition and respect such as Christianity seeks to create and prevail. ' 1 Whether it be a conflict of nations, a clash of class with class, an appeal must be made to intelligence and the moral sense as befits the dignity of man," he added. "Amidst bitterness and strife the Oxford Group Movement brings inen of every rank and walk of life together as men and nothing else, at an altar where they can talk and not fight, discuss and not dispute, and each may learn the point of View of his fellow men. The Spiritual Slde "With the advent of the industrial revolution people began to lose the value of the spiritual side of life. .The change was no doubt slow, but with the commencement of the World War and its aftermath it became apparents, and the result we see to-day is that history is merely repeating itself. Compare the past 25 years;. with what the historians say of a similar period in the decline of E'ome over 1700 years ago; materialism was rampant, the ease of travel to all parts of the then known world; passion for speed; great wealth accompanied by great poverty; breaking down of social barriers; tho immense importance of money; tbe emancipation of women; ' the farmers complained that the profiteers flourished; the rich bought for themselves new sensations which the poor clamoured to have. "It simply resolves itself into this: Are we going the same way as Eome and the other great empires, for the signs all. pcint that wayf" he said.' "No civilisation has yet survived the downfall of its God! Its doom is declared when the faith of idealism whicli forms the basis of its laws is 'challenged and then- abandoned. It therefore rests with- you and me whether our civilisation will go the way of the others, and lie buried and forgotten in the jungle of the past until some archaelogist of the fiitur8 finda the remnants. "I said it rests with you and mo, for after , all every man has a train of thought on which he rides when aloiie, and the worth of his life to himself and others as well as its happiness depends upon the direction in which that train is going. ' If, then, you and I can put that train of thought on the right track and start it on the way to those immortal mansions not made with hands, what other or higher duty can we render to our fellow-men and at the same time save civilisation from the diro consequence which must result if that train gets on the wrong trackf" 1 The Need of Vision. Mrs M. Hodder -stressed the urgency of vision and employed the analogy of New York's skyscrapers, where increased altitude meant an improved view of one's surroundings, eulminating at the 106th storey. Mr Athol Williams, a slieep-farmer, showed the application of the principles of the group on his homestead, where added co-operation with, and care for, the tenants had result ed. Mrs K. Duncan showed how the group revolutionised community ilfe in relation to the home, and' Mr C. McKellar demonsfcrated how hobies came within its amhit. Mrs M. Dodson spoke as a HiOlher and a housewife, emphasising the practicability of a " God-controll-ed" home. • A convincing witness was given by Mr P.' Chew, a Chinese silk merchant, who showed how personal animosity for the Japanese and other people had been removed and replaced by a vision of co-operation in the Paciiic. Mrs Linda Bennett told how a new and commandmg vision of a constructive revolution for humanity had been obtained, greator than 'the ordinary, destructive conception of such a movement. Miss H. binel (Marton) spoke of a new decision made as the result of willingness, and the Eev. M. Hodder concluded the senes by referring tb the life-changine literature cf the movement.