ENGLAND'S DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXXIX, Issue 95, 22 April 1940, Page 8

ENGLAND'S DAY

SERVICE AT ST. PAUL'S

BISHOP HOLLAND'S ADDRESS

FIGHT AGAINST EVIL

The" Sunday before the day of St. 1 George, patron ' saint of England, is ' chosen for the annual celebration service to commemorate England's Day. This took place in St. Paul's Cathedral Church last evening and drew a congregation that filled the church to the utmost. His Lordship the Bishop of Wellington (the Rt. Rev. H. St. Barbe Holland) was the preacher, and before the service he received and laid upon the Lord's Table the Banner of St. George, which was borne by Colonel J. Gethin Hughes, C.M.G. The order of service was ' specially arranged for ■ the occasion, opening with the National Anthem and then the Bidding Prayer, in which members, and companions of the Order and of the Royal Society and representatives of the counties of England asked for a blessing on the land of their birth and for wisdom and faith for her sons. The Lessons were read by the Mayor of Wellington (Mr. T. C. A. Hislop) and Mr. Karl Atkinson. The hymns were selected as appropriate to the ceremony, and the choir sang the anthem "Jerusalem," Miss M. Atkinson singing the first verse as a solo.", Taking for his text part of the last verse of I Corinthians xiii, his Lordship emphasised the dangers . from within that threatened Britain as well as all countries unless they took a re-, solute stand against the anti-spiritual forces that were rife in these dangerous days, when the very foundations of the "world were being shaken. The only way to overcome these was to depend on the abiding things which no power could shake. It was significant, said the Bishop, that a young English airman, speaking from Daventry after a thrilling raid over Norway, concluded a vivid story by saying that it was the beauty of the Norwegian scenery which he most clearly recalled, not the rush and the heat of the battle. So, now, Englishmen were thinking of the loveliness of spring, the primroses, the violets, and the beauty of Nature which could not be excelled anywhere else in the world. These also were to English people abiding things, and never had they seemed so real as in these dark days. They were, as it were, a true and real sheetanchor to their faith. THE SPIRIT OF ENGLAND. It was hard for us here to appreciate the anxiety of the people in the Old Land during the horrors they were experiencing and the agony that would be theirs in the event of general air raids. We could, however, catch the spirit of single-mindedness, self-sacri-fice, and readiness for anything that might happen. England and her people had risen to great heights because of their adherence to these abiding things' and the feeling they would rather die than sacrifice them. Freedom, peace and libert;', law and justice, and right followed wherever Englishmen settled, and, as Lord Halifax ; had said, though they had the greatest' power in the world, they did not menace the smallest nation. /To them truth was the greatest thing in national life, and that life could not be truly great without a true faith in those abiding things given to them as the heritage of Christ. They might have beer, content to follow the easy way and the easy task, but they deliberately chose the hard way that led to real satisfaction and achievement and face the realities of life. The campaigns of 1914 presented themselves as a great adventure and patriotism seemed a more simple, straightforward thing. But today, in the terrific war being waged, there was not this factor of adventure, but all were set and determined in their decision to carry through to the end and to fight the forces of evil with a real belief in the Christian spirit. It was England's ordeal to fight these forces on a double front and so the true Christian principle and faith were needed. The dark outlook on the world was typified in the black-out in England and the light was shown by the wonderful heroism in all phases of the fighting, perhaps even now in the cold of Norway. It.-vas now the job of the nation to find her way back to. the clear light, of truth and reality. NOTE OF WARNING NEEDED. The defeat of Hitler and his minions would not mean real victory and to say this it would be but folly. Everyone must realise the tremendous issues at stake, the dread powers that threatened all that was best in the .world today, and especially the work of God. A note of warning was desperately needed. The powers for evil were everywhere and they were spelling ruin to the heart of man. Once the nations tried to commit spiritual things to the decision of bombs and shells, it was almost impossible to keep n firm hold on the souls of the people. The war had been entered upon by the Empire with the loftiest motives and to these all must adhere. There were, however, sinister influences at work in the body'politic which must be withstood in a spirit of resolution and true courage, and only so could England win, if she conquered in the contest with evil and malignant designs. Without a victory against these forces England would come through v without finding a way back to the truer and higher peace. Victory might be won and the best things of life lost. The desire of all should be to win in the truest sense and to so secure those abiding things that were essential to real salvation of the whole world. The Cross was still the hope of England and if they were prepared to suffer the loss of all things material, so would they find a way out for the real saving of humanity in the unknown future. Therefore was it necessary to recall always the words of the Apostle, "Now abideth faith, hope, and love —these three." whole year, but haulage costs are normally prohibitive.) . Four railway systems, leading closely to or crossing the border, are Germany's apparent goals in the south, preparatory to an attempt to grip Sweden, if threat and diplomacy fail, from the west while simultaneous attack is made across the few miles j from Denmark and the long east coast | when the ice clears from the Gulf of Bothnia. Germany, from her hold on what Norwegian airports there are, the Danish fields, and her Baltic bases, threatens southern Sweden from above. To that dark future France and Brij tain have replied with smashing naval ! force, the landing of undisclosed forces at undisclosed points, - and a vast minefield. Germany's always inferior navy has been smashed, but the Norwegian campaign has yet no more than opened if Germany is to plunge into a new and bloodier Peninsular War —Napoleon, Portugal, Spain; Hit[lerj Norway, Sweden,