LOVE’S ANCHORAGE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22314, 26 April 1947, Page 4

LOVE’S ANCHORAGE

TRUE CONSOLATION GOD’S IMMUTABLE LAW Consolation for those bereaved by war’s sacrifices was ever at hand, in the knowledge that death in the path of duty was not a loss but merely a change from one state to another much happier, declared Canon A ; F. Hall, conducting the annual service at the Soldiers’ Plot at the Taruberu cemetery organised yesterday by the Women’s National Reserve. The public service held during the morning has offered tribute to all who had passed on in the service of their country, said Canon Hall. He addressed his present remarks to the individual people in the community who had suffered bereavement, and offered them the promise of Christ that He would succour those overcome by sadness and loneliness. What had Christianity to say on Anzac Day? he asked. Simply that God-was the great economist, and that nothing He made was ever wasted or thrown away. War was the great waster, but with God nothing good was ever lost; what was of use was transformed into something still more useful. Law Holds in Nature That law of God was seen in a thousand forms in Nature, and what was true in the material world was equally true in the spiritual world. In Nature the law made it impossible to annihilate anything. Matter was indestructible —it could not be eliminated, but only changed in form. In the spiritual world the same law held good. “Are our dear ones—all of us have some who have gone before us—completely lost?” asked Canon Hall. “Make no mistake; they are not here, but they have gone on to something better.” “This is not the meeting-place of souls, but merely the ante-room. Where is the meeting-place? In prayer, in church, anywhere where we can meet Christ and seek the fulfilment of His promise!" Canon Hall concluded his sermon by quoting a short poem: “Lord, where Thou art our holy dead must be; “And if with Thee, what then their endless bliss! ‘Till faith is sight, and hope reality, “Love’s anchorage is this.” Despite the rain which set in early in the afternoon, the gathering at the Soldiers’ Plot was substantial, and a number of thos6 present assisted members of the Women’s National Reserve in placing sprays of rosemary and garlands of flowers upon the graves. The -Salvation Army Band provided music for the hymns.