THE COST OF FREEDOM.

White Ribbon, Volume 22, Issue 256, 18 October 1916, Page 1

THE COST OF FREEDOM.

Courage is of two kinds —active and passive—the courage that does great things, which at its lowest is ciosely allied to foolhardiness, but which follows an upward path through all the manifestations oj bravery, until it reaches the of conscious and deliberate self-sat cilice; and there finds that “The toppling crags of duty scaled Are close bes de those shining tablelands, Of which our God Himself is moon and sun.” Also there is the courage which endures greatly, that sounds every note of an ascending scale from the calm fatalism that endures because it must, and touches lightly eat h tone of Patience, till it reaches the clear ringing note of Victory, when selfsubdued, it cries with triumphant faith, “I delight to endure Thy will, (), my Father.” During ti e past two years thousands of young men in th.s Dominion have shown u> one kind of courage courage in action. They, when Duty sounded her bugle-call, “rescue the oppressed”; when Freedom tapped her drum and cried, “Save me,’ Hew to obey the call. When the German War Lords set out to teac h the world that “Might i» Right ”; when they solved to overturn the effect of cen turies of Christian civilisation; t > reduce F.urope to a condition of bar barisip, where force is the only law, where terrorism is reduced to a sys-

tern; to set at defiance every international law; to decorate the murderers of innocent women and children; to break every law, human and Divine, and to justify the use of every means bv which Europe could be brought beneath the iron heel of Prussian militarism; when Germany resolved to win the world even at the price of her soul; then little Belgium threw herself across the track of the invading horde, and looking across the* “narrow streak of blue 1 ’ to “Freedom’s own little island,” cried, “Help, or I perish.” The British Lion lay dozing in the sun, the* Germans thought him sleeping, hut at the firM sound of distress he sprang to bis feet with a roar, and “from the four corners of the earth the lion’s tubs came tearing forth.” We in these far-off isles heard the call, and our boys responded nobly to it. I hey came from farm and orchard; from lonely bush and city desk; from the* plough and the loom; from school and college; from the teacher’s desk and the professor’s chair; fro » pulpit, and from printing-press; lea\ ng home and loved ones, they went to the camp, to the troopship, and the battlefield. Many have gone* to hospital, some to death, and some have returned to us bearing witness, by the ir scarred bodies and their shattered nerves, to the fierceness of the ordeal through which they have passed. But courage as lofty in quality, though of a different kind, has been shown during this long period by wives and mothers. Mothers gave their boys to fight for freedom; mothers who knew the value of the

gift (for no one knows the cost of human life as mothers know it). Brave boys have gone to tight; brave women have stayed at home to wor» and pray for them. Never has this courage been tested as in this last two weeks. Not even in the darkest days at Gallipoli have we had to scan su< h long lists of casualties, containing the names of hundreds who died on the field of honour, and of thousands who Le- wounded and broken in the hospitals of Northern France. Our deepest sympathy goes out to all those bereaved ones. The boys left us with all the light-heartedness of youth, their letters show not only how the crucible* of suffering developed the best in them, but also a depth of feeling and breadth of view that surprises even those who knew them best. What were they fighting for? The British Empire? Ay, and more than this. The British Empire stands for all we hold most dear: freedom; righteousness; justice to weaker nations; protection to the dark-skinned races. W ith all its faults--and they are many and grievous- yet the British Empire approaches more nearly than any other to the Christian ideal. The beys who went from our churches and Sunday Schools felt that they were fighting for the upholding of God’s cause on earth. “Whoso laveth down his life for My sake and the Gospels,” said the Great Master, and many a life is as truly laid down for God or. the battlefield as on the mission ii *ld. “I came not to send peace .in earth, but a sword,” words from the same Divine lips, teach us

truly that pc»ce is not the highest good. While evil exists, let the sword smite it; when evil is conquered, then a peace founded upon righteousness shall reign. We pray “Thy kingdom come." Had German materialism and selfishness conquered the world would it have hastened the coming of Christ’s kingdom? “War is red honor. Hut better war than the utter crushing out of liberty and civilisation under the heel of Prussian or any other militarism.' W hen it became a < hoi e between war or allowing German standards of conduct to dominate the world, Brita n rhose war, and her Dominions ratified that choice and sealed it with their blood. The death toll is heavy. Shall we mourn for those who have died the hero’s death Nay, rather let us rejoice that they have been tr inslated from the church militant below to the church triumphant above. Wrote one to his mother: “I always go into battle under the cover of the gist psalm.” He went into battle on September 15th, and died of wounds two days later. In life he abode “in the secret place of the Most High,” and now his spirit freed from earthly fetters abides in God’s more immediate presence. May that thought comfort all sorrowing mothers. When Hood in the Invincible threw himself between the damaged Lion and the German cruisers and drew their fire upon himself, hr saved hi* damaged consort but rot himself. Admiral Beattie, on coning ashore, burst into tears and cried: “Hood gave his life for mine " The boys in Northern France died for us, to save New Zealand women from the fate that German soldiers inflicted on Belgian women. Could they have died more nobly than in defence of mothers and sisters ? Many White Rihboners have lost ons and husband*. Shall we sii down and mourn for them with folded hands? Shall we not rather work for their ideal -a righteous nation to rule the seas? They fought to make Britain supreme; may we not fight to make her righteous? Does not our Fmpire seem more to us now that we have given our boys to die for it ? They died to save it from a foreign foe; ’tis ours to save it from the deadlier foes within. They died that Britain might still send out the missionary to heathen lands, we live that the mis-

s.onary may go unaccompanied by that devil in solution, gin. They died to *»ave women and girls from the power of the savage German soldiery; we live to save our sister women from the power of the white slave trade. Oh! bcareaved one! Your hoy is safe in his Heavenly Father s keeping, but many boys and girls in this land are still in danger from the twin demons of intemperance and impur’tv. It is ours to make our F.mpire worthy of the brave men who are bleeding and dying for her. They have fallen in the fight, but they hand their banner on to ns saying, “we fought for freedom, ?ou cam on the battle to free the slaves of sin.” “For freedom’s battle once begin, Bequeathed by bleeding sire to son, Though baffled oft is ever won.” \' hy do politicians bow down before the liquor vote? Because it is a solid vote. Ours be the work to make the woman’s vote a solid vote for righteousness Beyond the war-clouds and the reddened ways, I see the promise of the coming Days! 1 see His Son arise, now charged with grace Faith’s to dry and all her woes efface! Christ lives! Christ loves! Christ rules! No more shall might, Though leagued with all the forces of ttie n’ght, Ride over right. No more shall wrong The world’s gross agonies prolong. Who waits His time shall surely see t he triumph of his constancy: When, without let, or bar, or stay. The coming of His perfect day Shall sweep the Powers of night away— And Faith, replumed for nobler flight. And Hope, aglow with radiance bright, And Love, in loveliness bedight, Shall Creet the Morning Light.