" GOD SAVE THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA."

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11551, 15 January 1901, Page 3

" GOD SAVE THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA."

On Sunday evening the Rev. W. Jellie, 8.A., delivered -a 'thoughtful and impressive dis-

course under the above title in the Unitariaa Church, Cook-street. Taking as tcxt/psrfcv of Psalm exxii., " Pray for the peace of Jerusalem," etc., his very well-read discourse may be thus briefly outlined:—Wo pray : God save the Queen because the Queen symbolises and represents the nation, the Empire; it is also the expression of our personal I affection for the best and' wisest of • England's Sovereigns. Within the limits'of the Empire another nation has been born, bearing tho larger, the nobler name of Com- : monwealth. This is, a great and pregnant event. It is a grand peace victory. Six States, each largo enough to bo a kingdom . within itself, each retaining its individuality and rights and functions, have peacefully and spontaneously, as the result of no conflict, save that of the ballot, conjoined, not to uphold a tyrant's throne, not for aggrand- . isement, but .to promote . and ensure the • . common weal, mutual protection, amity, prosperity. The spectacle of such' a consumma- j tion may well evoke the prayer, "'God-Save! ' the Commonwealth of Australia." Then fol-j lowed a rapid allusion to the wondertul growth of ' Australia in population, wealth, and education. The salvation of a nation,: however, does • not. depend ultimately upon « ■ material conditions, but upon moral: char - ter, upon the soul wi thin "the body politic, upon -its ideals and its striving to realise them.' What are; the ' ideals enshrined or : that should be sought in ' such a Com mmwealth? (a) ; The dignity and impartial claims of labour; that in all iabour there in honour, and should be profit, (b) Equality of personal rights, before the law. (o) Higher education, rising from the general and ■ ele- . 1 :% mentary to " the technical' and special, id) Liberty and , equality in regard to religion and- religious institutions, the State regird- - ' ing and treating one and all alike, giving pre- ~'' ; - eminence and precedence 1 to 'none, leaving tliem ' to carry out the Apostolic precept "In honour preferring one another. Aus- • tralia takes ." small count of forms," but reckons much of Christianity applied. ■ Those aims— securing a chance for all, and to the sick and afflicted, support for the aged and infirm, hope for tho down-trodden arid * castaway—a Commonwealth must naturally cherish and promote. God would aid thus to save the Commonwealth by raising up and, inspiring men,;filled with these ideals, great in soul and aspiration, who should bo as '* the j light' of the world,",as "cities upon hills." But a nation ; might'.become so evil that . great and good men , could; not .save it. Alarms Aurelius . could not save corrupt Rome, ix.r > Socrates Greece. -There. are evils" existing in : or threatening the Commonwealth. Some root of bitterness may spring up, of p..](, of V love of pre-eminence, and cause trouble. ' This young giant may in evil hours be shorn -'j of _ moral beauty, sap , its vigour, - lose its vision and inspiration of: its ideals, him a deaf ear and a hard heart : to its prophets, "f: and sink into decadence,, as some 'nations have sunk and others are now sinking. • How possible a glorious development-beyond cur ' conjectures is witnessed in the American Re- : public! It is, therefore, meet' and right that with these possibilities, and in the pre- _• , sence of the unknown future, we should jo the representatives of all parts of the Empire, and around the cradle of this ' new-r-reatod ' gift of Heaven, pray "God : Save, : the - Commonwealth of Australia;" may' she to', ' a worthy type and earnest of the federation of all English-speaking peonies Yea, ' more; - • of the unity of all nations and of the .Parliament of Man! '.: Tho discourse ' suggested - that although a recent arrival, • Mr. Jellie '4 has been 'an intelligent and sympathetic ob- s • server of colonial life and conditions in Australasia. ■' : I I