THE CRISIS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 185, 15 January 1915, Page 6

THE CRISIS.

*>. AX ABLE SERMON. (Notes on Sermon <lclivcr.il in St. Andrew's Church, New i'lymoulh, on Suuihiv evening, .lanuai'v Hi, l>v the. l!ev. 11. J. Lewis). Sam., xxx., 21—"As his part is that gj-dh down to Hie battle, so sliall his part be that tarrietll by the stuff tliey shall part alike."

There is one important modification of this motto self-evident to every sane mind ant healthy conscience. Tlic-ie. words cannot possibly mean tliat aii shall share alike, whether they choose to go forth to the battle or to tarry by the stuir. No one whoso duty it is to go down to tin-, battle can possibly have any to tarry by the still!'. Tile only right of shirker/ and skulkers who tarry by the stuff When they ought to be lighting ill the fields is to he shot as traitor-, or decorated with the white feather as cowards. But there a/e thousands who are absolutely debarred from taking pait in the battle through no fault of their own. Collie, are disqualilied by age an.l infirmity. Some are detained at home by duties as onerous and sacred as the active defence of the. nation'-* Hag. Banks must be kept- open, newspapers must be circulated, business must be carried on, the sick must be attended to, the spiritual wants of the community must be fed in war as well as in peac. And the point of the principle laid down in the te\t is that those who tarry )y the stuff to discharge such duties as these shall not be, penalised by tinfact that their discharge of them plethides them from the possibility of going to the fiont. The meaning of the decree is, Do thou thy part, and do it well, whether it lie at the battle or by tile stuff, and the place to which duty calls thee shall make no difference to the lienor allotted to thee when the strifeis over. That being so. there are thrc<important scenes in which those called to the frjnt and those detained at home, shall share and share alike.

In the responsibility of the cause fuv which the war is being cairied on. Tilcre never was a war in which the whom Empire was so unanimous as that vliu'ii :* now being carried on. There was mil 11 difference of opinion over the Crimean War. There was much diilcrtiice of opinion over the South African war. But in this war, all members of the Empire, Catholic anil Protestant, Liberal and 'Conservative, Nationalist and Home ltuk-r, Canada, India, Australia and Xeiv Zealand are absolutely united. We are united by a sense of duty so clear that there can be no two opinions about it. We have no scllisli purpose to serve, no advantage to gam by that war. if we win, our victory will not add an acre to British territory. \\ i- aru lighting not for an interest, but for an ideal. At the late Lord Hoberts so truly ::a!il: "This war is a war beI'.urn the ideals of political progi'ds ami of political reaction.'' it is a war between those whose motto is "might is right," and those whose motto is "right is might." It is the absolute certainty of our conviction that our cause is a righteous one which is the secret of the solidarity of the Empire in' the struggle we arc now carrying on. United we stand. I'iiough the Empire 'has many li.iii.is. 't should have one heart. In kuping up the conviction of the sacr-d----liess of (lie cause for which we are lighting, We arc throwing into the struggle a nighty dynamic force which ca.i be wielded just as powerfully bv those who tarry bv the htutT as liv' those w!n> ever go down to the battle.'Thrice armed is he who lias his quarrel just. In doing our share to keep up the public opinion that the claim of the mailed fist to dictate the policy of Europe be crushed at whatever cost, we are taking our part in the struggle, whether our share is that of active service or ■uly that of silent moral sympathy.

]|.—Wc. mu-d. share and share alike in tiie bearing o! the cost without which this war cau never uc carried to a successful issue. I'heiv l ever was in file history oi This world >u,-h a costly war as 'thai now raging. H is estimated to he eo.-c----ir.g tlie/'Hiitis'i JCmpii-'! over fI.OUO.dC'J a day, and to have cost the nations taking part in it over three million human lives. But we are not counting the cost. Wh itever the cost of the war may be it must be met, and each of us must cheerfully do our full share towards helping to meet it. The most terrible | art of til'; cost i list, of course, be paid by those who are risking their ]i\v- in this battle. Hut the point of the twt is that none of us ought to dream of getting let oil' lightly because we are taking no actual part in the war. If we cannot risk our own lives in its support, that is all the more reason why we .should give all we have got to carry it on. The contributions to the Patriotic Fund, and especially to the fund for (lie relief of distress in Belgium, made by the Dominion, have already been noble. But if this war lasts, we should all be prepared to give a great deal more liberally than we have done yet to help to carry it through. \\Y must show the same spirit in our i gifts of money as the men at the front are showing in their gifts of their lives. We must he prepared to pinch oursclvjs not only of the many luxuries, but of many of the comforts of life in order that the war fund may be kept up. Whether we go down to the battle . or tarry by the stuff, our resolve tinisl be, '7 will not offer to the Empire which rosts me nothing."

Iff.—We should all share and share alike in cherishing the ho'jie of eventual victory. llo][e is contagious. So is despair. If we loie bean, >o will they. Unr prime duty towards them i 3 to "animate them with the spirit of hope which is the supreme secret of victory. And the way to l;ec]> up that hope is to feed i(. ,>'n the Minlv „i history. The world ha, S'en many Pmg wars before, but even tually the victory has always come

lounrt to llio side of t'ui liuiit. i;i,iforeFatle'is fought affiiiiist fearful odds in their (itath-graj/olc with the .- 1 1 ,aiii--: Armada. I'.ut they won. The Netherkriders fought ae-'ainst fearful odds i:i their -tiu»'»!e willi I'liilip 11. lint t!i-'V won. There are unseen hosts, (lie numbers of whieh ht can never' eahrlair. i'llil the -i.enelli of ..vlliell We eau neVT estimate, ever ran»iii<r themselves on the side of t ; ie ri 'lit. There is a |mi\v< r nor ourselves whieh makes For ri';hlecii-ne-. Our slij.rruie dui.v (.. the 'kin,,ir,. ii:cver to (le.-pnir of (lie future, even : u the darkest hours of its stniL'ehs \\.. know |..|i.. must he a'ion-'' an I •hard' on-\ But \vo believe i„ the' loninn it ran onlv have ~ec uid. "ir l!o ■' tfUon Nitoll reeelltlv Slid tile present war must end either j n the vieioi-,- of Britain and their allies or in the' extermination of the Firiti-'i. KiiKj'r... The latter alternative is unthinkable. Let tile Ireynote of our (,, ;V> men at the front he "AVe must v in" ! F.et lis uphold the Kmpire lie our personal service where that is possible hv flir p<v i.T.trv >aerific<- in its -.nonori everywhere: ; ,l H)Vl . a n, hv I](1|lill ~ ()|| ~„ , hoj.m.r war. Then we should do our shaiv towards rnrryiriff the TCmnire's o an=e ( e, I to a rieto.v whieh in the hem' run will he worth ill) that if has cost "to „., unit