NATIONAL DEFENCE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 202, 30 September 1909, Page 4

NATIONAL DEFENCE.

SERMON" BY BISHOP JULIUS. Chrislchiircli. Monday. Preaching at the Cathedral last night, Bishop Julius referred to the question of national defence. He said he believed every young man in the country should l)i" trained. New Zealand was siinpiy playing with the grave question of niltional defence, and when he said that there still remained a deeper question, and that was, "What is, after all, our defence?" It did not lie in trained men. big guns, and preparations for war. It lay far deepe,. than all that. The fortunes of a people were always dependdent upon the character of the poopie. Imperial Rome fell because she became luxurious. Her people 'were given over to ease, and they would make no sacrifices for a country they no longer lovtd. The enemy came over her borders, and Imperial Home was subject to semi-bar-barians who yet lad the seed of moral worlh and righteousness within thsm. .New Zealand was somewhat like a precocious and spoiled child. JShe had been brought up as soon as eho left the cradle. She was distinctly pleased with herself, and was always ready to teach her mother. There were dangers attaching to precocity of I hat kind. They were apt to suppose, like marry preco cious children, that they could dispense with the foundations of life, and that their wits would save them, cherishing contempt for slower methods by whi.'h other nations had attained to fame and power. There were dangers in that thfy were then apt to forget what were the true, conditions of national defense. Those lay deep in the moral qualities and worth of a people. God only knew what the future of New Zealand was to be. Had He some purpose for her? A place among the nations? Was she t.i be a Dominion indeed fulfilling to some extent at least some purpose of His in the world? It did iiot depend on his. Tory or I lie skill or wisdom of statesmen, out en moral worth. Their moral worth as a nation depended upon their spiritual life. 'Xo nation out of which religion as a moral Tone had died was holding its own to-day. New Zealand may have grown up quickly enough, ni i tie precocious enough, but if she liad no strong religious force she would die in her teens-she would not be worth preserving.