FUTURE OF THE EMPIRE

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 231, 23 June 1908, Page 8

FUTURE OF THE EMPIRE

, ADDRESS BY BISHOP JULIUS. . " LIKE LITTLE THINGS WE TALK BIG." . The .annual Empire Day- services- instituted; by tho','Rev: <3: C. Harper, were held at • All ■ Saints'' Church,, Palmerstori North, on Sunday,-the Anglican Bishop'of Christchurch (Dr. Julius) officiating. In the afternoon - tho Bishop conducted a ' servico for mon only, at which thero' was a record attendance.! His Excellency tho Governor was present, aiid'the service was also attended by the Mayor and Councillors, the member for the district (Mr. Wood), veterans and volunteors, brigade, members of tho Friendly Societies,- etc. The church was crowded in every part, and the servico was an inspiring one. -

In the courso of his sermon the Bishop referred to the rise and fall of tho great nations of the earth;-saying' that the cause of a 1 nation's '• decay. was unbelief.- The fallen nations of the world were those that were made up of people who had no horizon, and were incapable sacrifice. They did not: know why they wero great, and when they came' to the great, crises of their national life thoy : w'ero unprepared. Out of the wreck of ...theso-g-reat. fallen empires has arisen the'immense..empire-of Britain. "Is the British Empire .prepared? " 'asked tho speaker. "As- wo look' down through the history of the Empire, .we seo how much of its greatness.is .duo, to the hand of God. , Tha Umpire, has been ■ given us, we have' not made it, nor. could, have made it." It might be that- tho Empire which- had grown so strangely and wonderfully had come to its crisis, its supremo , moment. There. were signs of thiSj such as the marvellous rise of Eastern Powers, which for centuries past had slept, and which'.were now waking up.' The approaching conquest of the'air also pointed that way, showing us as it did that our ships and defences would be useless in the presence of foes ' that approached from tho air. Another sign of change was the strides which Socialism was making. "Socialism is here," said the Bishop, " and we think about it, some hoping, somo fearing, and s'omo_ trusting that it would come in our sons' timo aud not in our own." Socialism, he said, was not the amendment of order, but it was a revolution absolute, and in all these things thore was that which imperilled the existing orders of our'mighty empire. "If there was a new land opening'before us through God," asked the speaker, " aro wo prepared to como into that;;land, or are wo liko past nations, to look at .it, and-let it fade into nothingness because of bur unbelief." Tho Bishop then went, on to speak of tho Empiro's defences, - saying that the. Empire that wa3 prepared for war, was tho one that could best afford to .he at peace. In "this country we have practically no means of defence; and with all honour to pur volunteers corps, he would never rest content until the lads who loafed about a football match wore taught to hold a rifle and to use it. War, however, was not the thing they had most to think of. The crisis would take another form, and were thoy prepared for Have ,we our . horizon? We talk of our big and mighty-Em-pire, but whore is the advantage in bigness. We go about the world singing ' Rule Britannia,', we liavo our. flags and wo blow our little' tin, trumpots, but there is no horizon in that." He loved New Zealand, but. ho thought that its people..were tho. narrowest on earth. People with an horizon did not live iu this Dominion. Heaps of them believed that Now' Zealand was the hub of the Universo, continued ;tho speaker, and tihat England was wiiitjng with hated hreatli to follow our legislation—that England depended oil the vigour and industries of this country. " Why," declared Dr. Julius, " wo depend on England for tho very breath we breathe, and if wo were blotted out England would not be much the worse for it. Wo' .aro a'little country, and like little things wo talk big, and .that is what we call horizon. Again, suppose we say, ' I'm not a Now Zealander, I'm a.momber of-the mighty British Empire, and uo one can-sing Rule Britannia" as well as I can.' Well, what of the British Empire?" asked the preacher. Tho most important question was, why God raised up thei British Empire ? That was a question they might not .be ablo ' to answer, but they could be prepared to do hand of God reveals, and to' fulfill, his purpose in the world. One'of the noblest nations of'the world was Switzerland. The Swiss people had held their country free and independent for its sons, not by the waving of flags and singing of songs, but by self-sacrifice. Tho British greatest danger was luxury. They wero, daily increasing in their demands and the private soldier by and by l would want.: his motor-car.: He concluded by urging his; hearers to help forward individually their mighty Empire, with -a little less brag and big talk,_ and a great , deal more of earnestness. If the British Empiro fell, it would not be becauso of short comings in her army and. navy, but because individually her sons were , incapable of that sacrifice by which alone a'nation lives. \