THE EX-KING

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 311, 17 December 1936, Page 4

THE EX-KING

VIEWS OF CHURCH. STRATFORD SERMON. “The Embodiment Of The Modern Spirit/ ‘‘As 1 look at the tragedy of the past week I cannot help asking where is the modern spirit taking us to?” said the Rev. K. J. McFarland, vicar of the Church of Holy Trinity, Stratford, in a sermon on the abdication of King Edward.

Tae dominant feeling in men’s minds at the events that had come to pass was one of profound disappointment .that a reign which bore such hopes and expectations should end so tragically, he continued. The exKing -was the embodiment of the modern spirit and in the modern/ spirit there was a great deal of good. They should think of him during his term as Prince of Wales when he displayed such a desire for reality, for getting to know things and people as they really ’were.

In great enthusiasm and zeal for social service, and for giving a lead and helping the distressed and the afflicted, and in many other ways, the ex-King had been .the embodiment of the modern spirit at its very best. This side of his life should never be forgotten.

There was another sde to the modern spirit .however, of which the ex-King was also .the embodiment. The Bishop of Bradford had summed this up well in the much discussed sentence in which he said: “There are some of us who wish that the King showed more signs of realising the need of God’s grace.” The Bishop had explained this as referring to the neglect of religion in King Edward’s life. This neglect of religion, said

the Rev. McFarland, was a very prominent phase of the modern spirit and the events of the past week were a dramatic illustration of ‘the truth that religion was the basis of moral life and ideals. If religion was .taken away the fundations of morality were shaken. ( “I cannot believe that in reaching his decision the King acted in accord with his true nature,” said t'he Rev. McFarland. “We are n the depths of

the mysteries of human nature when we come up against the fact, so common in human life, of a man being traitor to his own better self.” “1 see that better self of the exKing coming to the surface again in ihe fine, manly speech in which he bade farewell to the people, over whom he had ruled, in which he took the whole responsibility of the decision to himself and in which he paved the way for his brother to succeed him.”

Support for the Archbishop of Canterbury was accorded by' Mr McFarland when invited by The Press today to comment on the Archbishop’s statement: “It was sad that for such a motive Edward abandoned a trust so great, and sought happiness in a manner inconsistent with Christian principles—marriage . within a social circle whose standards and ways of life were alien to all the best traditions of his people. The members of that circle stood rebuked by the judgment of the nation.”

“The Archbishop was quite right,” declared the Vicar, “and the people who are now criticising him for his statement are the. ones who .feel themselves the smart of his rebuke.” The Rev. McFarland said that the Archbishop’s statement could in no way be construed as “hitting a man when he was down”; it was directed not at the ex-King personally, but at the immoral social circle into which he bad fallen. “These hard words have to be said,” he added, “and they will have to be said again if society is: not to go rotten at the core.” Mr McFarland said he did not believe that the ex-King would so far lower his dignity as lo bandy words with the Archbishop in a broadcast reply, as had been suggested.