Cable Received by the Oxford Group in Wellington

Manawatu Times, Volume 64, Issue 172, 24 July 1939, Page 10

Cable Received by the Oxford Group in Wellington

The Bt. Hon. M. J. Savage and the Hon. B. S. B. Stevens, Premier of New South Wales, were among the signatories to a fhessage to the M.R.A. World Assembly at Hollywood entitled “A Call to the Nations for Moral ReArmament,” according to cabled advice received in Wellington by the Oxford Group. Delegations from thirty nations are attending the assembly, which lasts for ten days, having opened on Wednesday (July 19) in the vast open-air stadium Hollywood Bowl, seating twenty’ thousand. The world-wide nature of the Assembly is shown by messages from four Dutch Cabinet Ministers, the Mayor and Bishop of Tangoon, the Chief of the Swedish Air Force and others. In addition thousands of citiz ens from many countries are sending u message pledging themselves to support their leaders. The “Call to th Na tions” reads:— Born from the crisis, the challenge of Moral Re-Armament has brought us new vision and new hope—a new vision for our nation and a new hope for our selves. Moral Re-Armament is the strength of a nation's resolve. It conquers fear, ambition, greed, self-indulgence and hatred. Moral Re-Armament is the foundation of true liberty. It frees all citizens to give their highest service. Mcjral Re-Armament is the secret of peace. It brings peace in the heart, peace in the home, peace in the nation; it offers the one sure hope of peace between nations—a constructive plan which issues from common obedience to one supreme plan. Moral Re-Armament is a battle crier —challenging men and women of all classes and all ages to an endless vow in a war against the forces of chaos—the war that starts with God-given victory over those forces that work in ourselves. Moral Re-Armament means first of all a change of heart. It means the admission of our responsibility for the past, a frank acceptance by nations, as by individuals, of the standards of honesty, purity, unselfishness and love, and daily listening and daily obedience to God’s direction.

At this fateful hour we pledge ourselves to give the last full measure of our devotion—the service of heart and mind and will—for the moral and spiritual re-armament of our nation—for building the world of tomorrow, a world of new men and new nations, where every resource of human genius is liberated under God’s leadership to enrich the heritage of all mankind. The New Zealand Signatories are the Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage, Hon. Adam Hamilton, Hon. Mark Fagan, Hon. D. G. Sullivan, Hon. F. Jones, Hon. Lee Martin, Hon. W. Perry, Major-General Sir Andrew Russell, and Col. C. H. Weston.

“Hlustrated pages containing the signatures to the British message represent over a thousand towns and villages,” states the cabled report received in Wellington. “Bound in fourteen books they make a modern ‘ Canterbury Tales.’ The sheets from Scotland bear the colours of the clans; Welsh miners write a song of .hope; in some cities the mayors and councillors signed sheets embossed by the city seal. The captain, first engineer, fireman, deck hands and wiuchman of a Clyde dredger write: ’We take the dirt from the Clyde. MR A cleans up the world. ’ Domestic workers in Gloucester signing under the emblem off a pail and brush wrote; ‘MRA spring cleans ourselves, our homes and our country.’ In the middle of one sheet, hidden among the namei of villagers is the signature of A. J. Cronin, author of ‘The Citadel.’ York shire cricketers’ names filled a sheet, headed by Hutton and Sutcliffe, and in eluding Constantine and Woolley. Lord Athlone, Lord Hugh Cecil and the Provost of Eton signed with tho towns people of 'Windsor. Similar groups representing cross sections in France, Bulgaria, Scandinavia, India, Japan and China signed the world message. ’ ’