"The Fight For Peace.”

Hokitika Guardian, 3 October 1922, Page 4

"The Fight For Peace.”

AIR LLOYD GEORGE’S CALL TO THE CHURCHES.

LONDON, Aug 2. The Prime -Minister made a striking sptioch at a banquet in his honour which Was attended l>y .nearly four hundred representatives of the Free Churches.

Air Lloyd Geooga said:— There are issues of great moment which concern you and which are gathering strength. AH life has an instinct for the immediate danger to its existence, and what is true of all life is true of religious ife. What are these dangers? They are dangers that may be summed up in the war, its lessons, and its consequences. There *3 first of all. the great reaction, temporary perhaps, but considerable, against tho sacrificial temper manifested during the war—the return to the more material spirit and attitude of mind. It was inevitable. Human nature has not enough petrol to keep up in tliei blue sky above the clouds for more than a certain period, and it has come down to earth with a bump, and it is only religion can refill the tanks. (Cheers). There is a desire, .to get away (from, the surrender and the sacrifice of war. “Let us eat, drink, and ho merry, for we have just emerged from the valley of death.”—that is the new temper, and it is one of the dangers of the moment that the Churches alone can cope .with. I should like to say one word about tho question of temperance in this relation. There are two favourable facts. The first is that high (taxation has made excessive drinking more inaccessible (Laughter). The second fact is that, undoubtedly, within tho last year or two there has been more drastic legislation on the question of drink than lias lieen carried through the Houses of Parliament during the last liftv vears, and we are indebted very largely for tho successful carrying of that' Bill by consent to a very distinguished Free .Churchman, my friend the Lord Chief Justice of England (Cheers). There is also the fact that the struggle for existence has bcctn intensified considerably by the burdens mid consequences of the war. The .scramble for daily bread, profits wiped out. wages reduced, the difficulty of securing employment—all that has introduced rather a different temper from that which prevailed largely during the war. Tt is difficult to preach high purpose to mein whose nostrils can with difficulty lie Kept above the wave.

“TO MAKE AVAR IMPOSSIBLE. But what T wanted mainly to talk about, was the urgent need for all the Churches to combine to make war impossible. (Loud cheers). I had to make a dose study of pence, of its prospocts, of its perils—the perils not of peace, but the perils to peace. Ine earth is strewn with these perils, some manifest, some open, some revealed, mainly hidden During the war the cry was “Never again!” AAatch. There is a growing assumption that the conflict is coming again, sooner or later. That is tho business of the Churches. AATint do I mean by that? Nations are building up armaments; nations—T will say that did not exist, bu.t nations that have been submerged. buried —are building up new nrmj,w V,m bate national animosities, national fears, suspicions, dislikes, ambitions, fostered and exaggerated. You have more than that. Keep your e v e on what is happening. They are constructing more terrible machines than oven the late war ever saw. AA’ha.t for? Not for peace. I hey are not oven to disperse armies, they are to attack cities unarmed, where von have defenceless populations, .to Kill, to maim to poison, to mutilate, to burn helpless women and children, it the Churches of Christ throughout Europe and America allow that to fructify they had better close their doors. (Cheers.) The next war. if it ever comes, will be a war on civilisation itself. AA e have reduced our armaments— Army, N'a.vy and Air—bUyond what they weie before the war. and if all the nations on earth did the same, there would bo no peril to peace. But it is difficult for one nation to remain defenceless (when others construct machinery which may be used for its destruction. Everything depends on the temper, the spirit. !* created throughout the world, and it would be a sad. day if the people of the world came to the conclusion that Christianity, in spite of all its principles, in spite of all its ideals, was perfectly impotent to prevent mrsehiet of that kind. hopes of the league. t am one of those who attach high hopes to the League of .Nations. (Loud cheers). May I incidentally for the benefit of those who are not belts (laughter) just remind thorn that the Covenant of the League ot Nations is the first part of the Treaty of Versailles? There is otto thing 1 object to about that document. Everythin- that is doubtful in it, everything they dislike in it—-that is mine. (Laughter). All that is good in it belongs to someone else. As a matter of fact. I am entitled to boast. 1 was the first man to propose m the Council of Ten at Paris tlu.t_ the League of Nations should be an essential part of the machinery of civilisation, [f it succeeds, civilisation is safe. II it fails—and I speak advisedly—civilisation is doomed. A'ou have at this moment the strongest passions in the human liearL-fear, revenge, hatredyea love, love of country, love of home, love, of kin, ranging themselves on the .side of war. Hint is the peril of the future—the fear that something will happen to your country, the fear of the destruction of your homes, of your kindred— they say wo must perparc for war to protect them—all thoso deep, dominant, passions of the human heart gradually enlisting on the side of war. That is where the Churches come in. And if the. fury grow, the clash will inevitably come. I have a word of warning to utter. Put not your trust exclusively m machinery.' The Covenants are good, tho artieics arc excellent, but the value of tho machine is in the motive power. AVithout that, it is simply mi ingenious puzzle. 'A'ou must have » your League, of Nations tho public opinion which can alone make it a force, which can' alone give force to any human organisation—and that is vur business. “Tho letter killoth, but tho spirit giveth life,” and although the letter of the Covenant is admirable, although the letter of the Articles is without a mistake, if you trust to the: letter the killing will bc„i„ again. A'ou must trust to tho spirit, which will give the letter life. The League of Nations is a Magna Cmta but it has no force unless the pcopla of tho nations are behind it to enforce it and to make it impossible fo ranyne to resist its decree. Ihe Churches must do that. (Cheers). DANGER OF DELAY.

Conflict comes very suddenly. Ifow many men were there in August, eight years ago this week, who thought that the most horrible war in the world was just about to start? It comes with a suddenness which is appalling, perfectly appalling. It is too late then to work an elaborate machine. The wiir germ is just like any other germ—you really do pot know that it has got you until you are stricken d' n.

Therefore, you must have a healthy system, a healthy, public opinion, a healthy conscience that can take that germ by the throat when it is about to get yo.u. That- is the business of the Churches. (Cheers). AVlien the frenzy lias conic it is too late. It is no use arguing .with qn epileptic .when the fit lias got him, and tlie nations when they arc in that fury are the same. You have explosives littering the ground everywhere. A'ou have ipu.ly got to watch, to read, to follow what .is happening—the rivalries, tlie animosities, the suspicions, above all the fears. It is the fears that .are the most dangerous of all. There is a distrust, there is one nation that will not believe anything that is said by another nation. They say, “ AYliat arc they tip to? There is some deception behind it.” They may bo telling the truth, as least most of the truth. They might even tell the whole truth, and the more they tell it tho less is it believed. There is that atmosphere in the world, and it is all explosive material, littered all ovci Europe.' AA'hon the match is dropped it is too late. A’ou say: “There is the Covenant of the League of Nations.” AVlien a match is dropped into explosive material you cannot stop it by brandishing the Covenant in the fact of. the explosion. That is where you want to cultivate a new spirit. Put tho explosives under lock and key, and especially put those who drop matches under lock and key. (Laughter and cheers). There are some people who make it a business .right through life to do so. They are dangerous. If a man writes an article in this country to provoke and foment revolution and anarchy you prosecute him. 1 put tlie man who promotes and foments illwill between nations ill the same category. (Cheers). He is infinitely more dangerous. A'ou have control over your own revolutionaries, hut it is very difficult to deal with international animosities.

“TELL THE NEAV GENERATION.’ There is a new generation arising ft is a generation that has not passes through the horrors .of war. You arc beginning to get into that generation "and each year you will get more am more into it. They read of the glorie of war. They do not know of its hor rors. That is tlie generation lha will decide. Tear the war remorse lessly of its glamor, reveal its hide onsness to the eyes of this new goner ration. Tell them .about the trouble tfiat followed the war. These nr always forgotten. Waterloo—yoi see pictures of it, gorgeous, thrilling ennobling pictures of it, pictures ti n make yotl feel as if you eoiifd grasi a sword and dash with those lushin; horsemen along. AA lint followed AAalei loo? Nobody reads about it: i obod. knows; ami they will forgot 'lie <!is organisation of trade and of industry llie difficulty of getting y.ur onil. blend, tlio hundreds if ihousiu.i tramping the streets to find some o| portuniiy of earning a bring f : t ■•■ in selves ami for their children, am trumping in vain. The despair tha tilled the land the high taxation, t.l) high prices—all that will have gone hut the glory of the war will alwnv he blazing forth. That is the genera ati.m Hint will he judging the issu when the time comes. They will giv what happened in Europe—Russia clawing he; way out ot the pit am sinking deeper into it with eveiy con \ i:]mvv .effort—Germany clinging oes pergtely to the rot tea branch of a do based, currency, and when that give way, God help Germany. That i | Ingot ton. Tt is the business oi lb Churches of Christ to keep that befor the eves of the people. (Cheers). “ STANDING BY THE OLD DUGOUT.”

Tench the real lesson of the war. AY hat was one of the great lessons of the w ar'' I will tell you one. There was a nation with the most peril rt army in the world ; it was beaten because it had a had cause . Hiere wen’ nations with ill-equipped armies; they won. Why? Thee had righteousness on their side. (Cheers). Trust licit in fence. The nation that does so brings ruin upon itself; hut the leaders, the trainers of conscience, have got to bring that lioiiie. This sec;ms to me to he the greatest mission of the churches. I do not ask anyone to abandon any principles for which he may have fought, hut I do not believe in men who stick in dug-outs on abandoned battlefields. (Laughter and cheers.) The roll of battle lias passed cm to distant (iolds. They are not oven within hearing of the 1 roar ot artillery, not even of the heaviest guns, hut they say, “AVe mean to stand, whatever happens, by tlie old dug-out. <Laughter.) It may he there are people who like that sort of thing. I like to follow tin’ fight wherever it is—(cheers) — nncl the real light for every Free Churchman now is the fight lor peace. A’ou can do it now. there is the exhaustion of the war: there are men who are tired of war. That will pass away. The hatreds will remain, the suspicious will remain, the ambitious wil] remain, the greed will remain, the fears will remain, and when these operate on revived and regenerated nerves and muscles it may he too late then to inculcate the conscience of peace info the multitudes of all lands.

“NO MORE AVAR.” I am glad that at the head of the greatest Church in Christendom at the present moment is a mail who is a profound believer in peace. Ho exercises great sway on the consciciics of scores of millions in many lands that are vital to the cause of peace, and I rejoice in that fact. ' But we must all do our duty. Our young men may have sunk into materialism, but 1 believe they are getting tired of it. As “the hart panteth for the living waters,”, so the young men of Britain arc looking out for sumo better call. They have come out with parched lips from the scorching wilderness of war. They have found no satisfaction in pure materialism. and the time has (mine to rally them to the one great ea]l of this generation. that there shall lie no more war that nation shall not rise up against nation in future, and that those terrors shall not continue. I have had sonic experience of war. AA’liat I saw of it filled me with horror. AA’hat T saw of it day by day makes me vow that, I will consecrate what is left of my energies to make it impossible that humanity . slml] in future have to pass through the -fire, the torment, the cruelty, the

horror and the squalor .of war. (Loud cheers.)