FUTURE OF THE EMPIRE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 157, 24 June 1908, Page 3

FUTURE OF THE EMPIRE.

ADDRESS M' ifISUOP JULIUS. •LIKE LITTLE TIIIXUS WE TAllv Bit!.'* ihc aiiiiiuil Empire Day services inslifiled by the Rev. C. C. "Harper, wets held at All Saints' Church, I'altucrston -Nor:h, on .Sunday, the Anglican ijisiiop o- Cliristclitircli (Uv. Julius) oilit-iaHn-j. In t!i.- afternoon the JSishop conducted "a service for men only, at which there I | was a record attendance. His Excellency the Governor was present. In the course of his senium the Bishop rcferivd to the rise and fall of the great nation- of the earth, saying tlint' Ihc cause of a nation's decay was unbelief. ' The fallen nations of tlie world wer ■• those chat were made up of people win, had no horizon, and were incapable -t sacriti.-e. i iiev did not know why they

uure ;-iv:U. and w ||,.,i (|„,y B |||| D t „ (),',. great -.rises of their national Jifc they were unprepare.l. Out of the wreck of these fallen empires has arisen the immense empire u f Britain. "Is the )ir,ilish Empire prepare.lV" asked tile speni;. er. "As we look down through flic history of the Empire, we sec how much < f its greatness is due to the hand 0 f (,'o.| The Empire has n given us. wo have not made it. nor could we have made ;i. II might lie that iho Empire wi.ielu ,'lia-v grown so strangely and wonderfully ha--ouie to its crisis, its mi-.- -.He moment. There were signs 0 f tlii.-. oieh as be marvellous ri-e of East. :., I'.i.vers. whieii

in- •■< lit in-;.- |.ii-'H iiiiii s. ~ ami whieli Wore HOW Waking up. 'Lll-:- ;: !i;ir<>ac-;iiil^ '•"lupicst nf Ihe sill- al-n poiiu-d tll-H . way, showing sis it did Unit on snips mill defences would lie n-olc-.s in .li-piv- , scncc of foes that approached ir.ini !,IV. air. Another sign of change w-as Hie strides which Socialism was making. ""■Socialism is here,'' said the Jii.-Jioip. "and we think about it, so.me h'opsup.. ■" e fearing, and some trusting that ■• would come in our sons' time and no L ii our run. Socialism, he said, was not a revolution absolute, and in all these things there was Unit which imperilled the existing orders of our mighty empirc. "II ilieve were a new laud opening j before us through, (iod", asked til" speaker, -aye we prepared lo come into that land, or are we like past nations, to look at it, and lei it fade into nothingness because of our unbelief.'' The Bishop then went on to speak of the Empire's defences, saying that the Empire that was prepared for war, was the one that could best afford bo be at peace. In this country we have nracticuflv-. "o means of defence, and with all honm to our volunteer corps, he would never rest content until (lie lads who loafed about a football match were taught how to hold a rille and how to use it. war,' however, was not the thing thoc had most to think of. The crisis would take another form, and were Ihey prepared for il— -Have we our horizon? Wo tali; of our big and mighty Empire, lm}. whv I is the a.hantage in 'bigiuss. \Ve go about the world singing 'Jlule l!rit:i':inia.' ami •v.ivectir lings and uebleiv oi.r little tin trumpets, hut (here is in, lmri «iu in thai.' He loved New /, ilan. but lie thoaghl its people were tin- nar rou'i-t on earlh. J'eople will, an hori-' /.on did not live in this IKnninion. Heaps of them believed that \ey. ».,iluiil w«llle hub of the I'nivcrsc, continued the speaker, and that England was wailmwith bated breath to follow our legislation—that England depended on the vigor and industries of this country'.

"Why,' declared Dr. Julius, "we depend on England fur the very breath wt breathe, mid if wii were blotted out Kng land would not be much I lie wonc lor it. We are ;i little coimtrv. and like

little things we talk big, and that is what we. rail horizon. Again, supposr we say, 'l'm not a Xew Zeulallder; I'm, a mcmlior of tlie mighty British and no one can sing "Rule Britannia" as well as I ~in.' Well, whit of the lintisli Empire?" asked the preacher. The most important (piestion wa>. why (foil raised up the British Empire. That wts :i (|iiestion they might not be able to answer, hut they conhl he prepare.;! do do wliat the hand of Cod reveals and t'i fulfill His purpiKe in the world, (hunt the noblest nations of the worhl/WJs Switzerland. The Swis- people had h-M their country free and independent, folks sons, not by the waving of Hag. and singing of -ongs, hut by sel:-saerilh-.\ The British Knipire's greatest danger was luxury. They were daily increasing ill their demands and the private fiohlrr hv-and-bye would want his motor -u-. lie concluded by urging his hearers to tielp forward individually their mighty Kinpire. with a little less brag and talk, and a great deal more of earnest' ness. If the British Empire fell, it would not lie because of shortcoming- in her army and navy, but because individually her r.ans were incapable of the sacrifice by which alone a nation livc9.