AN OUTSPOKEN PARSON

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume XLV, Issue XLV, 22 June 1917, Page 1

AN OUTSPOKEN PARSON

- TRUE v. SHAM PATRIOTISM. A strong and striking note -was sounded by the Rev. A. E. Hunt (Congregation alist) in the course of an address he delivered at the service held at the Town Hall, Wellington, in honor of Empire Day. He opened his address -with praise of the British Empire. "We were all proud of this Empire, he said, but that was not enough. The spirits of our ancestors might well look down from their silent stations and ask "What axe you doing with the heritage we bequeathed you, and for which ( we labored, suffered, fought, and died?" That heritage'was ours, not to be frittered away in self-indulgence, but to be so wisely used that we could hand it on -with added lustre to those who should follow us. . . . The greater part of our community has remained practically unaffected by this war. True, we have given of our superfluity, but we have not given to the point of real selfdem'al. Our men in the trenches have often gone without food, without sleep, -without warmth, without shelter, for cur sakes, when the exigencies of the oase required it. But who of us has ever gone without a meal, or denied ourselves a single necessary, of life for their sake. Is it not- a serious reflection upon our- professional patriotism, and a travesty upon its sacred name, that it should

be deemed necessary to offer the bribe of * big prize in return for the small amuotit asked for'H THE COUNTRY TOO PROSPEROUS. "Is it not a fact that there are l&rg* numbers to-day earning wages never earned before, and which they are expending in «*- travagatit— dress and luxuries hitherto -undreamed of Is it not a fact that ihould fill us with a sense of shame that wM)« many of our men, in addition to their personal self-sacrifice, have voluntarily financially impoverished themselves, there are mw* in this country who have grown wealthy «»■» direct result of the war? I do not hesii*t*. to say that the men or women who mal» frar a means of enriching themselves, ud use the profits so gained for their own Mifehends, are fattening on the sufferings Md blood of their fellow-countrymen. If w»~ are true to our trust, then every power »•-- possess must be solemnly devoted to tb* ■acred cause in which we are engaged. "And this should apply not only to tfc* individual. It should equally apply to «T«rf business and every organisation—to eTery industry. It should apply to every employer and every employee. It should apply to every capitalist organisation, and ti every labor union. It should apply to the Government. The Government of our Empire have rightly urged the exercise .of the strictest economy on the part of the community, and to lessen their requirements to an irreducible limit. If tie surgeon's knif* be.needed in the saving of the life of zk» State, it must be faithfully used and ueed unsparingly. But the Government mujrt practise-what they preach. In the opinion . of many of the best citizens, the Government, both at Home and in this Dominion, have shown a deplorable lack of that moral courage and true patriotism they' seek tc urge upon the citizens. They have, deliberately given their countenance and extended preferential .treatment to a traffic which at its best must be deemed a luxury, and which, in the publicly-expressed opin'on of more than a hundred thousand of the nation's leaders, is declared to be a .distinct menace to it, a traffic which has admittedly hindered our' Army, Hampered our Naw, blocked the' output of munitions, retarded our shipping,- and reduced the National Efficiency more than all else put together. Bread has been made dearer because th« drink traffic has absorbed corn enough during the war to have fed the nation for a whole year. They have absorbed sufficient sjugar to have fed the nation for 100 days. Our wounded soldiers in hospital have been refused sugar in.their tea in order that the brewers' supply might be maintained. Shipping is scarce because drink has used up m hundred millions of cubic feet of shipping space. Xabor is scarce partly because ti» drink habit has reduced the efficiency of m> many workmen, and prevented many from working at all. The 'go slow' policy should ' down and out.'

"In our Dominion every business has bee» restricted except oue. Seed wheat, manure* agricultural implements, building and the necessities of commerce have been denied space on our railways and in our ships. But no restriction has ever, beea made on the carriage of beer and whisky. Business firms have been .urged to clow earlier, in order to economise in light and fuel; but the Government (here the speaker had to pause on account of the deafening applause in favor of his remarks) of thiM country refused to lessen by a single hour the sale of what the Prime Minister of Great Britain has declared to be ' a greater enemy of our country than' the armies of Germany and Austria.'. And one does not heed to be a Prohibitionist to regard thia ae a travesty of sound policy, and an outrage on the moral sense and economic interests of the community. To that extent it discounts that very patriotism it urge*-' upon others. (Loud and prolonged applause.) . ■ . :

WHAT OE THE FUTURE? 'One word more. We are a profestedly Christian nation. But how far can we honestly claim to be Christian? Is it not too true. that those who profess it have too often substituted ritual for righteousness and iu maintaining its outward forms have lived as though there were no. God? We have been selfish where we should'have been altruistic, and pagan rather than Christian. Now the great testing has' come. Our professed beliefs are in the melting pot. Will they come forth purified as by fire, or will they pass i from us for ever?" I refuse to believe in the latter, because I believe in God. I believe that His truth will emerge triumphant; I believe that the soul of the nation will finally come forth with a clearer vision, a purer faith, and a nobler spirit; and in a regenerated people we shall find a new world',and a new and better'life. Our men in the trenches are learning lesson* they will never forget. They are facing tie eternal verities of life, and when they return those lessons will bear good fruit. Many of them have not hesitated to declare that they have rediscovered God, and hars / found their own soul. And we need to <Jo the same. We have lacked in our loyalty to the nation because we have lacked in our fealty to God. And we cannot be true to the one, in so fax as we are not true to th« other. A true and abiding peace can nerer come until we have fitted ourselves for it. When we have humbled ourselves before th» King of Kings and Lord of Lords; when we have learnt to honor Him to whom our honor is due; when we have learnt to cultivate the spirit of the Christ—then will arise, like a phcerux from the ashes, a new Britain, a greater Britain, that will take its place among the kingdoms of our God and of His Christ." (Great applause.)