A STINGING SERMON.

Greymouth Evening Star, 3 July 1915, Page 3

A STINGING SERMON.

THE KAISER AND THE PRESIDENT. Professor Dickie, preaching at Knox Church, Dunedin, on May 30 from the text I Kings, xx,'4l and 42, delivered a sermon, so profoundly impressive that we have acceded to a request that we should publish the text of it. Professor Dickie said:We have just read of three things in the Old Testament lesson—a decisive victory gained by Israel over Syria, Ahab's wonderful generosity to his vanquished foe, and the verdict of the prophet of the Lord upon it. The narrative is so life-like, and so Ml of human interest that it would be well worth considering for its own sake. But, of course, our purpose with it is to attempt to apply its abiding message and lesson to the circumstances of our own time.

What a contrast between Benhadad as the head of his mighty army, selfconfident, boastful, and contemptuous of every restraint upon his unbridled l«at and arrogance, and Benhadad defeated, cowering in an inner chamber like a rat in its hole, and ready to purchase anything if only Ahab would spare his life. "Thy silver and thy gold is mine; thy wives also, and thy children, even the goodliest, are mine." "The cities which my father took from thv father I will restore; and thou shalt make streets for thee in .Damascus, as my father made in Samaria." Ahab was not an incapable ruler. But he was greatly delighted with himself that day. A long and devastating war had been brought to an unexpectedly happy conclusion- He knew what it was to suffer defeat. He had a fellow

feeling for his brother king, the sovereign of a realm so much more extensive Mian his own. Probably i(: gratified his vanity io act handsomely towards so great a potentate as the King of Syria. He may have thought it good policy to do so. The war had cost him nothing, am] so he could well afford to be magnanimous towards the murderous tyrant, who had brought desolation upon thousands of homes, and had hoped to enslave the whole nation. Ee was just like the complacent sentimentalists among ourselves, who sit at ease in their Morris chairs, and say,

"'('here must be no talk of asphyxiating gapes on our side," and all the time (.'011(1011)11 the bravest and the most. chivalrous of our choice young men to die a cruel lingering death, such as Ave do not willingly inflict even upon vermin. Ahab bore the Syrian aggressor no malice, and desired to spare him all humiliation. He even welcomed him as a brother into his own royal chariot. His own pose as a great and merciful king was more to him than the lives, that had been sacrificed for his country, or the future peace of his kingdom. -So he made a covenant with Benhadad. and let him go.

The terms were good. Doubtless Aliab was convinced that lie had done very well for all concerned. War is a , •terrible calamity. It entails continuous strain and self-sacrifice. No one ever knows what appalling news tho next hour may bring. He had effected an honourable peace, made Eenhadad his debtor, crowned himself with the laurels of victory, and gratified his vanity, both as a general and a dispenser of mercy. Doubtless, he fully expected that everyone would be satislied. But there Was to be one harsh, strident, discordant note ; and it came from a "prophet of the Lord-" Disguisin" himself as a wounded soldier he appeared before the King in the role of a suppliant, or rather perhaps of one asking for a judicial finding. He had been entrusted with the custody of a Syrian prisoner of war. and warned thai if. he let his charge escape, he would have to pay the penalty with his life, or else give as a ransom a talent of silver—a large sum, far exceeding the resources of any ordinary soldier. The King replies, "Quito right, too. It is just, what; you deserve." Then the prophet reveals himself in his real character, and in tho name of. the Lord God of Israel pronounces against the King the sentence of which he had just signified his hearty approval in the case of the supposed private soldier. Aliab's rosy dream of a grateful Eenhadad, a friendly Syria, an Israel free from the threatenings of war, and himself the central figure of the whole bright picture, the observed of all eyes, the great king mighty in battle, but mightier still in his glorious clemency, is rudely shattered. He went to his'house heavy and displeased. What was the prophet's indictment? This, first and foremost, that Benhadad's life was not AJiab's to spare. Ho Was simply a trustee for Another. The Lord God "of Battles had delivered Eenhadad into his keeping, and he had thoughtlessly and light-heartedly neglected a solemn trust. "As thy servant: was busy here and there, he is gone." Ho had Jet Eenhadad go, his crimes unpunished, his powers for mischief all but unimpaired. .. And the consequence, natural and inevitable as the mildew; if the grain is not stored before the rainy season, would bo Ahab's own death and the overthrow of his kingdom. Because an unnamed prophet of the Lord pronounced this sentence on Ahab for letting Eenhadad go, we are not warranted "in affirming that it is God's will and our bounden duty to inflict upon the Emperor of Germany a death comparable to that which ho and his people have brought to manw myriads of the bravest and best of our own and other lands. I say "he and his people," with a due sense of responsibility for every word I utter in this sacred place; I speak neither -rashly, nor m ignorance. We are lamentably mistaken if we do not reaT-se that behind the Emperor in all his egotistic unction, his overweening vanity, his_unscrupulous ambition, and Lis remorseless disregard for every principle and every life that stands between him and his self-appointed goal there is ranged an Empire strong, determined, restitute, assured of ultimate victory, and, at least, practically unanimous in its hearty approval of the most diabolical methods of warfare that the trained ingenuity of man and the inspiration of Satan can devise. If a bomb from a Zeppelin were to blot out St- Paul s -Cathedral and Westminster Abbey, both filled to overflowing with mothers, wives, and lisping little ones, kneeling before their God in one tremulous prayer for the safety of. their dearest on earth, as on Thursday the Princess Irene was blotted out, the destroyers of the Lusitania would be dethroned instantly, and that Zeppelin crew would "become the heroes of an Empire. The Kaiser and his myrmidons are international criminals of a far deeper dye than Benhadad and his Syrian hordes ever were. They are far"more ,of a menace to the world's civilisation and to our national existence than ever Syria was to Israel. They have said to Belgium, not, as many believe, in a drunken frenzy, but as a matter of policy, brutal, ruthless, diabolical, carefully thought out beforehand, "Your silver and your gold are : mine. Your wives also and your children, even the goodliest, are mine." They have let loose the horrors of war, oyer earth's richest and most highly civilised provinces,, deliberately calculating not only upon victory, but upon an indemnity that will more than recompense them lor all their material losses. I am sure that the Lusitania was sunk partly to overawe Italy and other undecided, neutrals. ; I have a, , gtrong suspicion, that a further fflpti^

was to goad the United States to war, so that their wealth might be available for the great indemnity. If the United States as a whole is quite unsuspicious of this, and to a very considerable extent pro-German, we must remember that 12 months ago the vast majority of our own people were quite as unsuspicious and quite as ready to resent any imputation on Germany's honour and pacific intentions. As a matter alike of common sense and common justice, we are abundantly warranted in declaring that clemency to Germany now would be as great a blunder and as great a crime as was Ahab's treatment of Benhahad. If wo do not conquer Germany now a worse • fate than that of Belgium and north-east France is in store for the whole British Empire. If we do not conquer Germany now, so that she is sunk into insignificance, and allowed a place on the map of Europe only on sufferance, and because she can do no one any further harm. then, like Ahab we shall bo false to a sacred trust. We are trustees alike for the future of the British Empire and of humanity. _ It we are false to our trust, our lives and those of our children will go, for their lives, and our national existence is doomed. Wo must conquer or die. The Lord God of Nations has laid this burden upon us. T know not why, nor do I know what the final settlement is to ho. I only know that this war was not of our seeking. Wo were unsuspicious and unprepared to the very last. A trumpet call was sounded, and wo had to respond or perish in dishonor. Germany, with its insolent- disregard for truth, as for everything else, declares that France bad already violated Belgian neutrality. The real'violation of Belgian neutrality took place several years ago when Germany laid down a network of railways, which could not conceivably serve any other purpose than that of enabling hev to attack France through Belgium. Wc must, conquer or die. Victory will cost far more than most even now suspect. We are only at the start of things. But whatever victory may cost, defeat would be n thousand times more costly. Wc must conquer or die! There is no oilier alternative. God Himself has laid this burden upon us. lest the slowly accumulated gains of rirditeousness. and in. ternational law, and the honor of womanhood, and the sacredness of human life and the priceless blessings of liberty be lost in n day. Woo to us. if w P refuse the burden ! ("led ruleth over all. But ]fe accomplishes His righteous will chicHv thr:>u<rh our human efforts and toils, ''"o he sure, neither we nor any other of His creatures are necessarv to Him for the accomplishment of His all-glorious purpose. But if we leave undone,, or only half done, the work He has called us to do ours is the shame: and we must pay the penalty. The cost of defeat would he so terrible that we cannot face the possibility. "Our lives for their lives: our country for theirs." Cod gives' us nothing worth having unless w<> think it worth struggling for, and. if need he. dvtng for. He is a God of Love, but also of .struggle and toil. In this world where He has appointed us our dwelling place, there is nothing without price, except His redeeming grace in Christ Jesus. The greater the Cross, the more glorious the Crown.

Rome are too proud to fight. Thoy take Allah's principle of brotherhood for their moral standard, and tell us that they wish well to both .sides. Wlien innocent lives are remorselessly sacrificed,

thfiV write polite notes to tlie mnrderers, and say: "We are sure tluit yon regret lliis lamentable accident just as much as wc do. Will yon promise fo be more careful another time?" There is a nation, great at least in numbers, and in wealth, which has long prided itself upon its pacific intentions and principles, and claimed to be an object lesson in a higher stalecraft (ban that of the sword. No doubt there i« much that is good in that nation. 'Rut, taking it all in all. it is. a band of shams, hypocrisy, and pretentions humbug in politics, in commerce, in social life, in morals, in education, in religion. "Ms law courts are corrupt to rottenness. Tn its cities and towns the mosf disgraceful traffic that ever drove men and women to eternal perdition flaunts itself unabashed. Tn no other civilised country i.s business morality so low. Men batten upon tho blood and the tears of the widow and. tho orphan, and then square accounts with their consciences by building churches, or endowing schools of learning, or, perhaps, giving a percentage of their godless gains fo foreign missions, or peripatetic evangelism. Lav.' and public opinion are alike powerless/. Often the very police are in the hands of commercialised vice. Such is the country whoso ruler, too proud to fight, aims, we are told, at giving the world an object lesson in Christianity as applied to politics and diplomacy. So he send birthday greetings to the ravaged of Belgium, and writes letters protesting gently against; the wilful murder of his people, and then becomes apologetic lest-lie should have gone too f;ii - . Meanwhile, one of his minions, jlprofessor in Princeton, where he used to be. writes magazine articles to ■•show that America must succeed to the leadership of the na-

tions, if only she sits still and" does nothing .while the nations of Europe throttle each other, and that the very worst thing in her interests would be a decisive victory for either side, especially for the Allies. Look at another picture, by way of contrast. A father robbed of his second son, has gathered together the broken fragments of information which tell all that can .be ascertained of how his boy met his end. He was little more than a lad, when strangers laid him in an unmarked grave. I knew and loved him for more than half of his srort life. "Nobody 3aw him shot —at any rate, nobody now alive." Such are the closing words of the pathetic record. They are written from the field of battle by a friend and companion whom I have' known even longer. This is how this young Scotsman died. I am quoting from a letter sent by one Colonel to another, ' and afterwards forwarded by the, re- ' cipient to the sorrowing, yet I doubt 1 not proud, father. "He took his two 1 telephone men with him, but sent them back after he had gone 50 yards, ' saying it was too dangerous. The men saw him go on some way and then dis- ' appear among trenches, and (I think) trees. This was the last that was seen of him. . . . The boy met his death through frying to do his duty, nay, more than his duty., That he met his death like a gallant English gentleman I know. We were under shell tire the previous day, and I have seen no one regard it of less account than he did. The boy had my highest admiration. He had the makings of a brilliant officer. I had reported this already officially, and also that he was without any exception the most hardworking officer I had ever met'. He was unselfish and full of thought for others. He was keen —all that an English Christian gentleman should lie. I sympathise with you, and I ask you to convey my very deepest sympathy to his mother and father in their sad loss. This cannot mean to you onetenth of what it means to me, who knew him so long, and loved him for all that makes any growing lad dear to his father's friends—naturalness, manliness, zest, and in a word every excelence of characlter appropriate to the budding years of fresh young man- : hood." But I ask you which is the worthier • disciple of the Crucified—that boy, so , thoughtful for others, so unselfish, so • courageous, giving his life for his ■ country as a matter of course, or the ; man who is too proud to fight, Woodi row Wilson, with his self-conscious . post', dreaming of his country raised ■ to world-dominion by the seif-imniola- ■ tion of less calculating peoples, dazzled by the prospect of the glory of being himself the arbiter of the world's power and afraid lest the dream slip from him ? Ask your own hearts, and 1 shall abide by the answer. You fathers 1 and mothers, which would you rather have your sons to be like? xbu, young men, which gives you the worthier and more inspiring outlook upon life? If, then, duty and honour are more to you than your own ease, and comfort, "and no higher, more insistent claim restrains you, be obedient to he very • heavenliest vision. Respond to the call of King and Country and Cod ; and may the Lord Cod of our fathers prosper you in your laying of your all on the altar of self-sacrifice. —Amen.