SUNDAY READING.

Taranaki Daily News, 22 July 1916, Page 3

SUNDAY READING.

PLAY THE GAME. Sermon breached by rev. a. ti. colvilk, m.a., at st. mary's church, new plymouth.

"If a man also strive for masteries, yet he is not crowned, except lie strive lawfully."—ll. Tim. "2, 5.

St. Paul wrote these words to a young and ardent disciple all on fire for the cause of Christ and keen to fhrlrt Mis buttles. St. 'Paul had a great affection for this young man, and wrote with great sympathy and encouragement, and yet did not shrink from ('lie warnings that all young and enthusiastic people need. He tells liira first to be ready to "endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ/ 1 ''Hardness" in those days would include- actual persecution. Rut also he was not to allow the edge of his enthusiasm to be blunted by the coldness and indifference and lack of sympathy of the people to whom the message was to be given. That is the sort of hardness that the soldier of Christ has always in every age to endure, and to the young especially it is more daunting than persecution, more deadening to the spirit than open 'hostility. Every worker for Christ in this parish must be prepared to endure that sort of hardness with courage and fortitude.

Then St. Paul goes on: ''No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life." Timothy was to give himself heart and soul to the work. His gifts and talents were to he put altogether at the .service of God, every thought brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. My friends, can a preacher of the Gospel, a priest of the Church, be also a man of the world? Y'es, in the sense that 'he knows human nature and interests himself intelligently in the motives and desires which go to make up the lives of the people to whom he ministers, but he must not be entangled—i.e., caught in t'hc meshes of the world, for example, the less he has to do with money or bother about money the better: it is better for him to knowtoo little about business than too much. It is not for him to buy and sell and get gain, nor to he distracted from his mission by the applause of the world for any social talents he may happen to possess. A servant of Christ must be prepared to resist softness as well as to endure hardness. •

And tlicn comes the third warning, which all Christians need alike, more especially the energetic and enthusiastic:

BEWARE OF SHORT, SHADY CUTS

TO SUCCESS.

Beware of doing evil that good may come. Don't tarnish the glory of achievement l>y methods of which in the future you will be ashamed. That is no true victory. Flay the great game in God's good name. Remember that if any man strive for masteries, yet he is not crowned, except he strive lawfully.

St. Paul was, as most of us know, a man of many and varied interests. He was an educated man and a man of imagination, who knew life from tho top to the bottom. Among other tilings, lie was evidently keenly interested in sport, and probably he and Timothy 'had often witnessed the foot-races and other games in which the sport-loving Greeks delighted; and here he reminds his young disciple that the judge would most certainly disqualify a runner who had won success by some unscrupulous and unlawful method; who had perhaps tripped up an opponent, or elbowed him off the track, or used some other shady method of securing the victory. Such a man was not crowned. The prize for which the runners contested was a crown of laurels, not much of a reward think some sportsmen of these days who always must have a trophy to play for, but considered then as the symbol of victory and the crown of honor it was very highly prized. Yet it was given only to him who had won fairly and squarely—"lf a man strive for masteries, yet he is not crowned except he strive lawfully."

That was the all-important warning that St. Paul gave to Timothy—a warning urgently needed 'u an age of strenuous competition. H one is very enthusiastic for one's own success, or for the success of a cause, one is constantly tempted to throw scruples aside, hang up one's conscience, and take up what seems to lie the sharpest weapon at the time being, and this temptation hecomes stronger the longer success is delayed. Impatience with G'od, and with God's way of working things out is the besetting sin of all eager and energetic people, and that was just why this warning was given to Timothy. The Church lias always needed it. Over and over again she lias been tempted to take short cuts to success. In mediaeval times, for the sake of establishing faith, for the sake of God's supposed honor, men were persecuted and tortured and burned as a short cut to uniformity. Frauds were practised and lies wore told, and even murder countenanced that the souls of men might all he gathered into one fold for the honor and glory of Cod. hi ol'her words, the Church repudiated the teaching of Christ that Christ might reign in the world. In this "striving for the mastery" the Church lost the crown, To-day

THE CHURCH'S TEMPTATION is to meet too eagerly the demands of men rather than to misinterpret the commands of God, to pre::ch a gospel confined to Hie boundaries of this world, a gospel of materialism wrapped up in line-sounding phrases about brotherhood and unity—a limited gospel, limited to meet the demands of the people, a gospel in which sin, redemption, forgiveness, the power of an endless life are forgotten—a short eui for the Church to the hearts of men.

My friends, there can be no crown for the Church unless she preach in season and out of season, with man's favor or without it, the whole gospel of Christ, the faith once delivered to the saints; for in no other way can she meet the real needs of men. To deal with the individual rather than with masses, I to preach the necessity of individual eonversion, of repentance, confession and forgiveness. Well, it is a long way for the Church to go, a long way and a. hard way. But we cannot win the world for Christ by leaving out the hard part of His gospel. The Faith, the whole Faith, nothing but the Faith, will bring men to God to-day and crown His Church with victory. "If a man strive for masteries, yet he is not crowned except he strive lawfully." The same warning holds good for all life and every department of it. It has often been said that no man can become a millionaire without destroying his conscience in the process,

without doing mean things ami cruel things and unscrupulous things that he may sit securely on his pile of gold and receive the homage of the world on his victory. -How l.ardlv." said the .Master, "shall they that have riches enter into the Kingdom." "How hardly." how dillicult to avoid the temptation.! of the •Jiort cuts. The reward of the runner in the llreek games was a crown of laurels, intrinsically worthless, and vet of deep symbolical significance. The true reward of life is Mot the balance at the bankers, or the good position, or the applause of men, but the knowledge of a conscience at peace with Cod, of'a life »»rthily Iked, ami of duty bravely done. Without these things, t'he running of the straight race, the lighting of the good light, and, 1 should like to add, the playing of tlie great game, there can he no enduring crown of victory; and there are many who perhaps we'envy to-day as very far ahead in life's race, whom' the Orcat Judge will disqualify when they reach the winning post. "The race i's not always to the swift nor the battle to the strong"; "many that are iir.>t shall be last"; for "if a man strive for masteries yet he is not crown except lie strive lawfully."

And so we come to the point which I want briefly to emphasise now. We have reached a critical stage of the war. and wc are all longing for the end to come. Now it is a common experience in the .history of war that the longer it lasts the greater is the temptation to bitterness of feeling and unserupulousness of method. 'People get impatient and begin to talk of

REPRISALS,

Mid this impatience and bitterness is too often encouraged in the newspapers, fiom which so many get their opinions. I remember during the last stages of the Boer war a respectable London newspaper coming out with the suggestion that we should take no more prisoners and allow no more surrenders. The other day I read with regret a leading article in a local paper which attempted to justify reprisals and what is called the law of retaliation. An analogy was drawn between the war and a football matcli, almost as St. Paul drew an analogy between the Corinthian games and the work of the Church for Christ, jf one football team plays foul, it is said, and there is a weak referee, the other side is sure to follow suit. lam sorrv for the honor of the game if football i"s played in that spirit to-day. I can only say that the team to which I had the honor to belong twenty years ago would under no provocation have adopted foul methods of play. A temptation, no doubt, but we had our reputation and our honor to consider, and though the foul play of our opponents would have made >u- play harder and more relentlessly, we would not have copied their methods, and should have felt that a victory won by such methods was no true victory at all. So in this matter. It is not our enemies we think of so much as ourselves, our country's honor and the honor of the British Army. It is said that such fine sentiments are thrown away on the Germans; but what if they are? What docs that matter? Are you and 1 to give up our good principles, to surrender our ideals, to turn our backs on our Church and repudiate the teaching of our Master, because such things are not appreciated by the people with whom we come in contact? The whole standard ot living would deteriorate if such a rule were followed, and that is just what the policy of reprisals does for a war. The whole atmosphere becomes poisoned, the glory of the living is tarnished, and even the

CRAVES OF THE CALLAXT DEAD ARE DISHONORED.

In saying this, my friends, I am not presuming to criticise anything regarded by high military authority as necessary for the protection of our soldiers or for tiie citizens of our Empire. In some ways I believe we are too lenient, in the matter, for example, of interim.;,' alien enemies, and in our over-indulg-ent treatment of prisoners. But I do say that reprisals must always be a dangerous policy to advocate. The only excuse for them is that they should bring the whole dreadful business to a swifter conclusion. And is this so? Xot, experience tells us, when you are dealing with a brave and unscrupulous foe. And the German is both brave and unscrupulous. An attempt at reprisals was made in this war. You remember, an order was given that prisoners taken from enemy submarines should be treated not as prisoners of war, but as common felons. What happened? Did the enemy cease his submarine campaign on that account? Xot lie; he at once selected a certain number of British ollicers, and put them apart for "special treatment." The consequence was that our order had to be withdrawn. As Lord Charles I'eresford, who is no sentimentalist, has said: "The enemy does not care what becomes of ■his own men who have surrendered, and welcomes an excuse for starving ours." Yes, reprisals is a double-edged weapon, a joomerang that Hies back upon the thrower. One act of reprisal breeds another, until the war is made more of a hell than it is already. And, as I said, it is our own character that sutler?. Once you let loose the spirit of reprisal you cannot tell where it will stop. The logical conclusion is that when the enemy is driven back to his own country, the soldiers of the Allies shall treat the German women and children as the Germans have treated the women and children of Belgium. Kvcryone would !)■> 'horrified at such a thing. Xo one could imagine British soldiers behaving in that way, nor do I believe they ever would, but logically that is where the principle of reprisals would lead. ''An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth." IV s no use, my friends; we shall never be a match for the Germans in "frightfulness," and the less we civilians chatter about it irresponsibly, and the more earnestly we bend our energies to every sacrifice that will win the war thoroughly, speedily and cleanly, the greater will be the victory when it comes, and the Empire's crown of glory will be worn proudly and honorably without spot or stain or blemish.

"If a man strive for masteries, yet he is not crowned, except lie strive lawfully." Carry this warning with you into every department of life, into your home, your business, your recreation, and nl! your relationships with others. Let it remind you that you must deal fairly and squarely with all men and all women, apart altogether from their conduct to you. Remember that the greatest crown of life, the crown of love, cannot lie worn with honor if it be not gained lawfully, and that our Master's great "well-done" is reserved for that faithful servant who 'lias '•fought the good fight," "won the straight race," "played the great game," and. in all tilings has done to others as lie would they should do unto Mm.