THE SPIRIT OF THE UNIVERSE.

Taranaki Daily News, 7 November 1917, Page 3

THE SPIRIT OF THE UNIVERSE.

To .the Editor. Sir.—Kindly bear with me for a little that I may shortly enlarge 6n my previous letter on our great man of the Empire, Premier Lloyd George. Thi3 man was born of poor people in the principality of Wale;, a hilly country on the ) left or we=t side of England, as the map i hang«. This man is of small stature, and not particularly good-looking or im;iosing in any way. He was a non-cor-formist m church matters, and a local preacher in Welsh chapels, and altogether not very far removed from what, in Colonial slang, is termed a "wowser." Nevertheless, the. eternal spirit of the Universe seems ,to have had its eye on this little obscure .individuality; for sooner had the atrocious Huns began to organise and perfect their preparations for the enslavement of the human race than a spirit of justice and truth began to bud, expand and grow in the heart and brain of Lloyd-George. By the time that this brutal onslaught on human right—and liberty —had got a commencement, Lloyd George, hv strenuous exertions, courage ans character, had climbed into second place in the first of nations; aiul this fir-t of nations was really at this momentous epoch in a state of practical chaos —no army, no guns, no munitions, no organisation of workers, nor of wen It'll, npr of material. What, a confusion for the first of nations to be in! Their grim and terrible enemy had been toiling and organising and preparing for forty long years, and whs ready and trim, to the polish of a button. This huge preparation had been going on all those years with the full knowledge of England and under her very nose; but she only smiled and* laughed, ami talked empty platitudes. Hut when the clock struck the hour for action the first of nations woke up in a state of confused distraction. Almost at onee a thousand tongues could tell what should lie done; but there was only one man who could do it. and that, man was Lloyd George! Then did the little Welsh giant show the world the stuff he was 'made of; the vehement energy he possessed, his organising power, his ready wit. his sterling sagacity, his unbounded faith in 'his fellow countrymen, his eloquence and unflaggng zeal, carried all in front of him. Even Premier Asquith was found to be a stumbling; block in the path of true progress in the salving of the nation, and lie, too, had to give place to the vigorous little Welsh preacher. It is only a fool who cannot, see that England saved the world; and surely he is not much different who cannot, see that Lloyd George saved England, ftenee it is that I was correct in saying in my last letter that this grand little son of Wales, "bofn of a Welsh ladv " which as l>c himself declared, "accounts for much." K in the true sense of the world, the foremost man in all the world to-day. ; Now, how did he manage it? He did not ! manage to do all this of himself; but. jthe spirit that animates the Universe 1 did it through 'him. The spirit, of the |Universe creates life, gives life. main-. | tains life. There is no life apart from i the spirit of the Universe. You can believe in fifty gods, if you like; but when you do, you are simply believing in fifty different, conceptions of the One Thing, and that One Thing is the Spirit of the Universe. The churches are antiquated and crystallised embodiments of I false and true notions, or concepts of the ' c sme. thing. Had the churches been ; true, then the Archbishop of Canterbury 4 should have been the instrument of England's and the world's safety in the present erisis. Andj. failing him. the Pope of Rome should have done the job, and stopped the Ciermons. Did either make any attempt, that was not farcical? Neither did; but both showed themselves utterly and absolutely useless in the cause of right, or in the interests of humanity. The little non-eonformist Welsh preacher was found to be the willing, ready, honest and courageous channel through which, and by whom, the Spirit of the eternal and living Universe could think and speak and act on behalf of sane men.—l am, etc., J. 0. TAYLOR. Waiongona, November f>. 1917.