IN GRATEFUL MEMORY.

Taranaki Daily News, 26 April 1922, Page 4

IN GRATEFUL MEMORY.

ROLL OF HONOR UNVEILED. AT ST. ANDREW’S CHURCH. The seventh anniversary of Anzac Day was appropriately honored at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, New Ply-, mouth, yesterday afternoon by the unveiling of a roll of honor in memory of those men from the congregation who made the supreme sacrifice in the Great War. The church was filled to overflowing, and the service, conducted by the Rev. Oscar Blundell, was of a most impressive nature. The hymns were in keeping with the occasion, being “God of Our Father,” “O Valiant Hearts,” and “Lead Kindly Light.” In the course of an address, based on the text “What mean ye by these stones ” (Joshua ch. 4, n.b.), the Rev. Blundell said: —Friends and fellow citizens, —We dre assembled to-day to the glory of God and in the honored remembrance of the young men of the congregation of St. Andrews, who, in those dark and terrible years of war, now happily passed away, went forth at the call of duty to assist in obtaining for us the peace and security which we now enjoy. Of the many who, in the strength and joy of youth, left this church to bear their part in the great war, ten did not return, nor will they return. They, for our sakes, and in the cause of our Empire, made the supreme sacrifice, .they showed the love, than which, as the Divine Saviour lias asserted, no greater may be found among men; they laid down their lives for their’friends. We may cheer the returning brave and confer some poor distinctions upon them, but for those who come no more we can only cherish their memory and do what may be possible to preserve their names and the record of their devotion after we are gone. The reward due for tlieir love and sacrifice is far too great for us to bestow; it out of our hands altogether; God only can repay them, and assuredly He will. VALUE OF MEMORIALS.

“With a view to stimulating our remembrance and as an attempt to perpetuate the memory of those splendid young men, the congregation has caused to be placed in this building a tablet of marble inscribed with their names. It may seem, in view oi what they performed, but a small tribute to make, yet this stone of memory will have its uses, and we may very fittingly inquire to-day what they may be? Such tablets as this are being placed in most of the churches in our land, and in every city, town and village in the Dominion monuments of various kinds, but all for the same purpose, are being erected. Concerning them we will ask, in the words used by three children of Israel so long, ago. “What mean ye by these stones?” The first- and most obvious purpose they serve has already been touched upon—they arc stones of remembrance; a means, the best we have power to employ for perpetuating the memory and for recording the names of our noble dead. But if that be the only purpose in view, if that be the only meaning we attach to the erection of this and other memorials in our midst, small is the good that will accrue. Throughout the world are monuments, the original purpose of which is now lost; the passage of time, the changes in language, the corroding forces of nature have left them without a meaning to the men of our own generation; and a similar fate will inevi-i tably overtake all attempts at providing permanent memorials of this nature. That, however, which no sculptured marble can achieve, no engraved name accomplish -for us, may be established in our own hearts and lives if so be that we rightly regard the inner and deeper purport of our stones of remembrance. The supreme value which attaches to such memorial tablets as this which is to be unveiled to-day, lies in the effect they produce in and upon us. LESSONS FOR. TO-DAY.

“If we will cultivate in our own hearts the spirit which thinks not first of self but of others, the spirit so vividly manifested in the young mep who died that we might live, then generations as yet unborn will more abundantly display the same. It will become increasingly the heritage of our posterity, and a race shall arise whose ideals and aims will be altruistic rather than selfish, and the Kingdom of God will stand revealed in all its ITght of truth and love. Viewed in this way • and so employed, our memorial stones, whatever form they take, will convey a nobler and richer meaning. They will become tokens of the supreme pur- 1 pose of our lives; reminders, not onlyjt of the men W’ho died for our sakes, but of our own obligation to prove worthy of their sacrifice, and to so seek to devote our lives to the service of our fellows that the example set us shall not be in vain.” Lieutenant-Colonel C. H. Weston, D. 5.0., then unveiled the roll of honor, saying, as fie did so: “To the glory oi God and to the undying memory of those men from this church who gave their lives in the Great War, I unveil this roll of honor.” The singing of the National Anthem concluded the service. The roll of honor is done in marble, the inscriptions being in gold lettering. At the top is the church coat-of-arm«. followed by the following inscription:— “For King and country. Tn lovi>g and grateful memory of the men from this congregation who gave their lives in their country’s service in the Great War, 1914-1918. John, F. Anderson Leo. D. Boswell. Gilbert J. B. Cairnie. William A. Guild. Douglas A. Rarle. George A. Jarvis. Wilfrpfl L. McMurray. Robert F. C. Scott. * Donald 8. Wilson. “They died that we might live.”