HONOUR OF NATIONS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 56, 4 September 1944, Page 3

HONOUR OF NATIONS

ACID TEST AHEAD

A special service held in St. John's Church yesterday morning was attended by representatives of public bodies and by.the Consul-General for Poland and by the Consul and Deputy Consul for Greece. The Lesson was read by the Prime Minister. Preaching on the text, "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord?" the Rev. Gladstone Hughes said: "We may paraphrase this question into 'who is worthy to enter into the fellowship of the Divine purpose, or who is worthy to be God's fellow-worker?' And the answer of the Psalmist could be expressed thus, 'He who makes truth, right, and honour his guiding stars.' The question should be made relevant to the present situation. GREATER MORAL DEMANDS. "We are rapidly approaching the time when we must put into effect the measures which are necessary to safeguard the world from aggression and war. The moral demands of the period on which we are now entering will be even greater than those which confronted us five years ago. Let us, therefore, put the Psalmist's question into concrete form and ask, What will give the United Nations the right to the moral leadership of the world? We shall emerge, from the conflict warweary and disillusioned. .. . The strain and fatigue of war will tempt us to relax our efforts and moral rectitude may give .place to cynical expediency. We shall ■» need clean, hands and pure hearts, a mind set on the true and not. on the false, and respect for the sacredness of the pledged word." Asking if we were in danger of agreeing to a policy altogether incompatible with the main objects for which this war was being waged, the preacher said the acid test would be the attitude to Poland. It was amazing that the Red Army, which was within a few miles of Warsaw, had not given aid to the brave defenders. When Russia was in need hundreds, if not thousands, of British seamen gave their lives in conveying help through Arctic seas. "This was the time for the voice of the common people of the democracies to be heard —the people whose sons had sacrificed their lives to make a better world possible. If Poland were to be partitioned again and become the victim of power-politics, how could !he United Nations claim the moral leadership of the world? ; "*" "A STILL FINER HOUR." "The finest hour for Greece was when she declared she would stand against the Huns alone," said Mr. Hughes. "Poland's finest hour was when she exposed herself to the fury of the Huns when no direct help could be sent to her. Britain's finest hour was when she stood for a whole year alone in defence of the world's freedom. There is a still finer hour for the great democracies, if in a cynical world, they haye the moral courage to refuse to sanction the claims of might against right, and make truth, right, and honour their guiding stars. Let us give expression to our deepest convictions so that those in whose hands we have placed the honour of our British Commonwealth may live up to its highest traditions"