SUNDAY READING.

Taranaki Daily News, 30 April 1921, Page 9

SUNDAY READING.

THE CHALLENGE OF THE ANZACS

“Compassed about with sar great a cloud of witnesses.”—Heb. XII., I.

(Rev. A. H. Collins, New Plymouth.)

To-morrow we' commemorate the epic deeds of the Anzacs—the great, wonderful. splendid Anzacs! People regard the day differently. To some it has no special significance, to others itjis one of great days in our rough island story. TO some it is an occasion for flags and military display, to others it is a call to thanksgiving and prayer. To some it will bring sad memories and silent tears; to others public dinners and flamboyant speech. It is safe to predict that Anzac Day will grow more sacred in our eyes as time places in true perspective the magnitude of the achievements wrought six years ago. On the eve of the celebration, I want us to ask , ourselves, What is the meaning, and what the message, of Anzac Day? Has it any meaning, or any message? For what did our hero-brothers lay down their lives with such uncalculating bravery? Unless we can answer that question in gome worthy way our flag-flapping and our cheers may easily degenerate into

Such boastings as the Gentiles use, And lesser breeds without the law.

Now, I am not going to claim for these titanic men that they realised all the great things for which they contended. They did not. Some of them were careless, adventurous lads, caught in the war fever of the hour, and eager for a fight, with little concern for statecraft and diplomacy, and still less for the moral issues, But as Matthew Arnold said of the men who built the world’s great cathedrals, so we may say of the Anzacs, “They builded better than they knew.” All unknowing, unseeing, and perhaps uncaring, they fought for justice, for freedom, for national honor; and as Woodrow Wilson said, “to make the world a safe place for Democracy to live And whether we realise it or not, that is our task, no less than theirs. We and they are Empire bjiilderp, and the stability of the Empire depends on honest stuff, and faithful Workmanship, we put into the national frabric. There is a question we all might well ask ourselves. “If all New Zealanders were just like me, what sort of New Zealand would our New Zealand be?” That is a fair question. For we realty have no warrant for expecting that other folk will bear burdens we shirk, cultivate virtues we avoid, make sacrifices we refuse, and live lives we scorn. For a coward to praise an Anzac is insult. For selfishness to praise sacrifice is insult. What sort of New Zealand do yon want to see? What sort of New Zealand would the Anzacs bid us build, could they speak from their lone graves, that overlook the purple sea? Stand up, ye mighty dead, and tell us that! I hazard this threefold reply: First, they would say, Build' a loyal New Zealand, a New Zealand loyal to the British Empire. For the flag of England is the flag of this young giant springing to nationhood. King George is no less our sovereign than theirs. Yonder wavewashed islands in the North Sea are as sacred in our eyes as our own! thousand miles of coast line. We are bound to the land of our fathers by the strongest cords on earth. Not by material bonds, not by ties of self-interest and trade preference; not by army and navy. Neither red coats, blue coats, nOr* khaki holds us true to 'England. We are bound by the fourfold strand of blood, of language, of faith, and of love; and the greatest of these is Jove. No Mannishisms, no red flag of revolution, no foolish talk of cutting the painter. We want a land loyal to England, loyal to itself, and so loyal to every other people. Shakespeare put wise words into the lips of Polonius frhen he said:

This above all! To thyself be true, And it must follow, as night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.

I pass that on to young New Zealanders. This above all, New Zealand! To thyself be true, and it must follow as night the day, thou canst not then be false to any land. For by loyalty Ido not mean national conceits or insular prejudices. I, do not mean the braggart boast that* looks down on other nations and says, “we are the people, and wisdom Will die with us.” Still less do I mean the military. “swank” that puts its trust “in reeking tube and iron shard.” For that insolent temper in any people has its root in rottenness, and its blossom in the dust. By loyalty I mean the spirit which, while conscious of its own power, and confident in its own high destiny, realises that rank imposes obligation, and power is a trust; and just as we are loyal to the highest and the best—to God, and King, and Empire—we shall understand what we owe to every other creature, and every other nation, on God’s green earth. We are not owners, but trustees, of the sacramental liberties of the world. We did not make the Southern Cross, the fair skies, the fertile fields, the resounding sea. Think it out, and you will confess that a New' Zealand that is loyal to its election of God must be missionary in spirit and aim. Don’t be arrogant and despise other men’s land. Don’t be mean spirited and look down on your own land. Believe in New Zealand. Attempt great things for New Zealand. Be loyal to this great Dominion; love it, serve it, suffer for it, and, if need be, die for it, but above all live for it. “Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori,” cried the stern Roman. I think I could die for my country, but I know I can live for it. A wide-visioned, big-heart-ed, great-souled New Zealand. Build that. For this i<s the challenge of the Anzacs. With William Blake let us vow:

I will not cease from mortal strife, Nor shall the sword sleep in my hand Till we have built Jerusalem In Britain’s green and pleasant land. Next, I think, the Anzacs would challenge us to build a free New Zealand. Never forget that we come of a race that breathes freedom as its native air, freedom for ourselves and for others, too; freedom of limb and mind, freedom of thought and speech, freedom of conscience and soul. We will listen to the voice of reason, listen respectfully to all thht Popes, and Bishops, and Synods, may have to say to us. But we are free men and free churchmen. We never can consent that any man or any body of men should shackle body, mind, or soul. There is only One Whose mild yoke we will ever wear, and His Name is Jesus. There is one, and only one, Supreme Will, before whose august authority our reason, conscience, soul, can consent to bow. Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and to God the things which are God’s.” And because we claim this for ourselves, we claim it for every other man. Aye! and we who meet in this church must be first to

this, and not only say it, we must stand up for it, and if need, should arise, we must suffer for it. There is never need to fear freedom. Truth can stand the test. Christ must reign. Live and let live. Think and let think. Build a free New' Zealand. Free for Christian and unbeliever, free for Protestant and Roman Catholic, free for Trinitarian and Unitarian, free for Conservative and Democrat, free for black and yellow, brown and w’hite; free as the mountain wind, and the salt sea, and the summer sun, and the caller air. Free for other men as we wish it free to ourselves. A free press, a free conscience, a free Bible, a free Church, a free land for free men. in a free W’orld. This is the challenge of the Anzacs.

Thirdly, I think the Anzacs would call us to build a white New Zealand. Perhaps you think that is skating on thin ice. Perhaps you w«ll say, How can New Zealand be white and free? Well, 1 am not thinking in political terms. I am not drawing the color line. Goodness and manhood are more than skin deep. There are men whose skins are white and whose hearts are black as hell. Booker Washington had a face as black as night, but he was one of the whitest men God ever made. We want New Zealand to be the inviolate home of white-eouled men. When we see a man who is sober, straight, clean, fair, square, and gold all through, we eay “He is a white man,” and we want a nation of such—cleanlipped clean minded, clean handed, and clean souled—a race of upright, dauntless, God-fearing men and women, uncorrupted and unafraid.

(1) We want a land free of grasping monopoly and conscienceless profiteering. “For my part,” said the late Joseph Chamberlain “neither sneers, nor abuse, nor opposition, shall ever induce me to accept as the will of the Almighty, and an unalterable dispensation of His providence, a state of things under which millions lead sordid, monotonous, hopeless lives, without pleasure in the present and without prospect for the future.” New Zealand is big enough to home many times its present population, and we should be big enough men to welcome to our full table, and our feast of beauty, the struggling and disinherited of other lands. (2) We want the cloud of gambling lifted right out of our land. They say George Washington never told a lie. I have my doubts. But he told the whole truth when lie said, “Gambling is the child of avarice, the brother of iniquity, and the father of mischief,” and by gambling I mean not only horse-racing, but gambling in stocks, and shares, and land. Yet New Zealand is honeycombed with this sqfialid Vice. Sport is ruined by it, business is deeply stained by it, even patriotic efforts are made to .contribute to it, and, alas, there is a church that condones and even fosters it.

(3) We want a New Zealand free of the curse of drink. Over the front door of one of the hotels in South Australia, I read: “Welcome, heroes of Anzac,” and it made me wince, for the drink saloon isn’t worth fighting for, but only fighting against, with all the might of our massed manhood. The boozer, the gambler, the slacker, the sweater, and the whimperer are in the same category. They are not worth the body of the poorest Pomeranian soldier. (4) We want that' rioutous pleasure, and public picnics; yes, and political propaganda to stop on the Lord’s Day. We want that day to be the gladdest day of the week, a day when pick and pen ihall be laid aside, and the toiler shall be to rest and worship his Maker; a holy, happy, healthy day—a white 'Sunday for white men in a white New Zealflfnd. ‘this is the Challenge of the Anzacs: A loyal New Zealand; a free New Zealand; A white—not white-washed —New Zealand. What is your answer? t