Untitled

Hokitika Guardian, 8 February 1930, Page 4

'The clergy in and about Christchurch from time to time give utterance to many practical sermons, and these are passed on to a wider audience by the local newspapers who do a very good and useful service to the nation by publishing the views and expressions of tlie preachers on the common round and daily task of the average citizen. As a case in point, at the Cathedral last Sunday, Bishop Wcst-Wbi-son spoke of the differences between the Victorian age and this of ours. He was reminded of this bv the fact that it was twenty-eight years since the funeral of Queen Victoria, and he called to mind the attendance- of the great ones of the earth on that occasion, and the majesty and the solemn pomp of the scene. “That was the clc-s-e of one age and the beginning of another,” said the Bishop. There were great men in that age—'Lord Palmerston, Lord Shaftesbury, Gladstone and Disraeli. Men were possessed of a kind of superiority complex, and Englishmen boasted .that they could command and receive protection

in any part of tho world. It was a narrow patriotism. “Perhaps the keynote of that ago lives in tho word ‘expansion,’ for tnen we gained commercial greatness, and colonies ceased to be altogether burdens. The genius of Kipling expressed it—a kind of selfconfident trumpeting of our own worth. But the Boer War . began to check men’s ideas of England’s iiivineibiity, and a reaction in the strain of ‘Lest We Forget’ set in. The age also showed a renewal of religious fervour, and a vast extension of mission-

ary work. Men are not now so confident. They find everywhere- a sense of uncertainty. Even the splendid idea, of progress lias been undermined. People begin to wonder if. England has liad her day, if the Empire will hold together. Can we hold our markets? So also in religion. Many are not sure about Christ, or about missionary work. The road is longer to travel and less sure underfoot. Men realisti that there is need to understand other points of view beside our own, and there is more tolerance. We have world movements, and conferences, not only political but also religious. The results of conferencse may not seem very tangible at present, but after a generation ideas will have percolated to the- ordinary man. Perhaps our uncertainty is only the result of the birth pangs of a new era. Yet, with all our conferen.es and resoJutions, we may Jack the will, tbe spiritual power, to achieve any lasting good. Without something more than mere loyalty of man to man, without a greater loyalty, we can do nothing. Many things iiave changed, but C-nrist’s call to men to surrender to Himself lias remained the same,”