CORRESPONDENCE

Horowhenua Chronicle, 30 August 1916, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE

Ou;- correspondents' opinions are their own: the responsibility of editorial ones makes sufficient ballast for tile editor's shoulders.j •'FIGHT j DON'T PBEACH." (To the Editor;. i?:i,Papers, clergymen, periodicals and publicists .in- for ever putting before tbe public the honors of war, but von "ill .see num.- virtues in five; liiitnites on the battlefield than you will see in live years in Little Bethel. And what of the horrors of peace? How often we read of (some poor, stoirin-

tossed soul slinking down to the harbor! a sob, a few* ripples of the murky waters, and all is over. No; that foil and ripple are cries to God of the failure, not of religion, but of tlio.se who claim fellowship and discipleehip with Hiin who camo to save and uplift. Christ was 110 mere talker. iHe was not a tract-distributor only. His argument was Himself as the Type of Supreme Duty. Arguments are what we say about things. The arguments that count are what things say for themselves. God bless our sailors 'and soldiers! They are tlie true pillars of Tf tlfey do not preach self-sacrifice, they practise it. Tn the olden days the yew tree Tvas planted under the very shadow of the parish church, so' that our ancestors might at any time cut the national weapon—tfie bow—from ground sanctified hv their dead and coiisecrated "by their faith. But now, alasl the church bias lost something of the noble and ringing tone which summoned our forefathers to battle. True, there are parish clergymen here and there who deliver faithfully the message of the Master, and give to the men of tight the sanction of the church's solemn •ervice, and who stand with uplifted voice to consecrate devotion and duty to tlio country's call—but what are the leading men doing? Barring the Anglican Bishop of Auckland, and one or two of the clergy, who have souk at the front, one would not know that the most bloody war of the world was raging. Have tliey no voice for the new order of knighthood that lias Hpiunjj up amongst us?—men sworn to a vow to do battle against tlie powers ot darkness. God blest* our soldiers and sailors. They are teaching tho churches the meaning of Christ's gospel. W hen the lads return to their homes in town and in village, they will bring with them new ideas, firmer faith, manlier sentiment*;. These men who have looked into the eyes of death, who have faced the realities, will Tilt religion out of the sloppy bed of mere emotionalism and out of the death clothes of mouldy ecclesiasticism, to flume again an the morning sky under the eternal sign of duty: the cross of Christ. 1 would auk our clergy if they have any spare time to read carefully Hymn 031 V A. and M.), -and frame their sermons occasionally from the theme they should iiiul there, fn most of our churches we have "Jeremy Diddler in M Flat" for tho 'Magnificat: not a word can be sung by the congregations tliev can only gaze openmouthed in wonder. Ah long 'as a C! nglegation can join heartily in the services it is a sign of appreciable understanding. We arc invited in the psalms to "make cheerful noises uato the God of Jacob!" "AVhv don't men go to ehmcli?" There are many reasons. The average colonial thinks of nothing but self. This applies to both sexes alike. There, is an absence of home life; football, picture shows, the smiles of frowsy barmaids, and that monster of iniquity the 'totalisntor, all tend to draw their thoughts from Calvary. The reeult can be seen from the reoords of our Court—criminal. divorce and civil. Humanity has failed; not Christianity. Let us hope the war will clear the atmosphere, and that the. results may show that Christ did not die in vain,—l am, etc.. NO KNOCK-KNEED CHRISTIAN