BYRD’S EXPEDITION

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 935, 31 March 1930, Page 16

BYRD’S EXPEDITION

MESSAGE TO THE CHURCH SERMON AT MOUNT EDEN "Commander Byrd’s Great Achieve- j meat—lts Message for Today” was the subject of a sermon delivered by the Rev. L. H. Hunt at the Mount Eden Presbyterian Church last evening. The speaker contended that there was no subject that appealed more strongly to the imagination than that of Polar exploration. The South Pole appealed more because of its close proximity. “For the last 300 years,” said the preacher, “the South Pole had been visited by many explorers and in the 29 expeditions of the last century and a-half 17 had been British While Rear-Admiral Byrd is a citizen of the United States he is a member of the great English speaking race and he displayed throughout this daring enterprise all those purely British qua\:ies of pluck and of endurance that have placed our Empire in the vanguard of progress today among the nations of the earth. What were the great factors that made this triumph possible? What lessons has this great achievement for the modern church and especialy l’or young men and women who are looking forward to their life work ? “Let us see in the first place the factors in the situation that made success possible. Commander Byrd was able to start where others had left off. He was able to profit by the labours of his predecessors. He was the first to acknowledge that on his return. It is a reminder to all of us brethren that we are the heirs of all the ages. Others have laboured and we have entered into their labours. Let us not cease to thank God that He has enabled so many of his servants to think His great thoughts after Him. “In the second place Commander Byrd was enabled to succeed because of the careful planning beforehand and also because of the diligent attention that was given to the minutest detail. The third and the greatest factor was the cordial co-operation and goodwill of the -12 men associated with him in this great undertaking The fourth factor making for success was the overruling Providence of God. “Commander Byrd admitted that fortune smiled upon him or to put it in our own words God blessed his efforts and so ordered events that success was attained at last. I firmly believe that they were wisely ordered by Our Heavenly Father above and in the truest sense the expedition succeeded through the divine favour and blessing. Another factor was that the men at the base were able by means of wireless to keep in constant touch with the outside world. “What lessons can the modern church learn from this expedition? In the first place we are reminded as already indicated of our debt to the past. If we are to succeed today in our assaults on the strongholds I of evil it will not be done without | careful planning and by the mobilisa- | tiou of all our resources. How can the Christian Church hope to succeed when all the various sections of the church militant are pulling different ways, when denominational rivalries are placed before the real interests of the Kingdom of God on earth? Howcan an individual congregation hope to succeed if the people are at loggeri heads with each other? Let us not | forget that we must all pull together if we are to win out in the long run.”