LOVE AND SERVICE

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 42, 18 August 1925, Page 6

LOVE AND SERVICE

KEYNOTE OF WORLD'S PEACE

A STRIKING ADDRESS,

A striking address was deKvored at the ' Botary . Club luncheon to-day by Lieutenant-Commander Chaplain ,\foir, of the American hospital ship Belief. Officers from the hospital ship 'were also guests of the club. The chairman for the day was Rotarian C. E. Wheeler.

In the first place Chaplain JMoir expressed the thanks of the fleet g'DiicraUy for the very cordial "* manner in which they had been received in Wclb'n-.'tf.n. "You have been exceedingly kind, ' lie said, "and we want you to know how much we appreciate all you have done while we have been in this wonderful city of yours. I can assure you thai, it is "a great joy for us to bo here with you."

The 'speaker went on to say that lie feared that they liad taken rather a serious chance in inviting a chaplain to speak to them. but he thought he might say that the chaplains of the fleet "were probably move generous in their Views than was the case with clergymen who were not chaplains. He said that' he had a particular interest in Notary as some of the finer institutions in America were the liotary 1 Clubs of the various cities. He had been asked to say some-thin*; about the hospital ship, but as it had been whispered by somebody—he hoped tiiey would not 'let it go any further—that the Americans were just a- little bit boastful , lie would have to he very careful. (T.anghIvt.)

."Tlip licrr, is nit a luxury, lie is a necessity," declared Chnpiiuu JNlwir.

"The ships which ply between the seas of earth and heaven are not laden with gold and silver, but arc i.ideiv with elect spirits. Men and women are the commodity that tho earth grows and heaven wants." The hospital ship wa* certainly a very fine institution; lie thought he might go so far as to say that there was nothing like it in the whole American navy and, perhaps, in the world. The personnel of the hospital ship was made up of all classes of, .men and ivomen, hut in the hearts of everyone there was absolute sincerity and a spirit of devotion to the sick man. There was not a, single thing that they. could do for the sick man tliat was not done. The speaker went on to refer to the materialistic aspect of tho present age, and said that history showed that materialism preceded an age of progress and spiritual uplift. They were surely all aiming for tho establishment of that great temple which they might call the temple of civilisation, and they were looking- forward to the time when the uttermost parts of the world would know peace. Love and service should bo tho keynote to their strivings. .In the navy there wero a large number of religionists, and ho urged that all should try to practice the greut principles of religion in their everyday lives and in their business. If they ' followed out those principles, their Ijeloved America, and their beloved New Zealand would attain their high destiny. (Applause:) Chaplain Sloir was accorded a hearty vote of thanks for his address.