The Hutt News Wednesday, September 10,1941. METHODIST CHURCH HON. W. NASH ADDRESS TO MEN

Hutt News, Volume 15, Issue 15, 10 September 1941, Page 4

The Hutt News Wednesday, September 10,1941. METHODIST CHURCH HON. W. NASH ADDRESS TO MEN

A service of no, : little lhtereat was' held' In the Waiwhetu Methodist ! Church <?n a recent Sunday afternoon. It took the form of a men's service, the Speaker being the Act-* Ing Prime Minister, the Hon. Walter Nash. Mr. Nash took as the Bubject of his address "War." "War solves no problems," he said; "it cannot be a step towards a better way of life. All it can do Is to stop the destruction of good things: it might be, and I believe in the present case it is, a barrier against things that would destroy our freedom and our standard of life, but ultimately the only permanent solution of the world's problem is to be found in following the way of Christ. It is extremely difficult in the present situation to discover that way of Christ, and sincere men differ widely in their application. "I saw in Germany all the concentrated powers of evil take charge: it became a crime to advocate the Gospel of Christ, and it seemed to me that if that Power achieved its objective, the Christian faith would be put back a century— not defeated, for the Christian faith cannot be defeated. We mußt remember, too, that the Christian faith may be set back, even if we achieve our objective, unless we are moved all the time by love and not hate. It is extremely difficult, but it is essential that 'we keep ourselves from hate. The greatest achievement of this war so far is the absence of hate, in spite of all the barriers, -.us absence of hate should not lessen our effort, or weaken* our determination to win this war, and preserve our freedom, but it will purify our motives and behaviour after the war.|. It will prevent the occurrence of the mistakes after 1918. We must endeavour also to regard this conflict, not as our own, but as a conflict on behalf of all mankind. For God created all men, and -we ought not to light one another. We should share the .world's resources and help other people to reach the full le. For Christianity is truly universal, and will save all men, whatever race or colour. Jesus came to save the world, and His way is the only way the world can be saved. Unless we try with all our might to apply the law of Christ to all aspects of life, commercial, political, church and international, none of these lives can be good or abide. If we follow that way of Christ, when the conflict is over, we will be in control of character, and can build up something better.