BISHOP JULIUS ON CHURCH MILITARISM.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XL, Issue 12279, 25 May 1903, Page 7

BISHOP JULIUS ON CHURCH MILITARISM.

A NAi'ION OF HYPOCRITES.

NEED FOR CHRISTIAN STRENGTH. SrEAKiNG at St. Paul's Church, Symondsstreet, yesterday morning to a large congregation, which included several old veterans, who had paraded for the service, the Right Rev. Bishop Julius, of Cliristchurch, based a most eloquent and interesting discourse upon 11. Samuel x. 12, "Bo of good courage and let us play the men for our peoplo and for the cities of our God." Addressing liitnself more particularly to the band of old soldiers sitting reverently together in the front, Bishop Julius said that from very early days there had been a close connection between the Church and military life. It was surprising, when one studied the New Testament, to find how many soldiers were connected with tho history of the Church. Some people said it was a concord between Christ and the devil, ana asked what the Church had to do with war, saying that there must bo an antagonism between professing Christians and professing soldiers. Some such feeling as this had been, he thought, intensified by the spirit of jingoism, which had gone far to change the character of our people. But the real position was that we loved our country and our God better than peace. The time might come—God grant itwhen the nations might settle their difficulties by arbitration. War was one of the crudest moans that could possibly be conceived. But the time had not come yet, and the, Church had to take the world as it found it and help to bring its people nearer to God. The State- must not suffer injury, but must assert her rights, or she would but bring harm and danger upon the greater number of her people. So it was his business—and a very pleasant oneto welcome that day and to address those men present who had done their work for God and country and resigned their arms. The words of his text were uttered by Joab, not a very high-minded man, but a groat soldier. Watwas the emblem of the unceasing conflict between light and wrong, good and evil, light and darkness. In every page of history were to be found men and women who had fought against wrong. This was a warfare in which men novei became such veterans as that they should lay aside their arms, but in which they should ever go forward until every enemy, material and spiritual, was brought beneath the feet of Christ. There were multitudes of Christians in every age who had never come forward to fight, who talked on the side of right and acted on the side of wrong, or failed to act at all. Wo had too many in this colony who were too indolent. They said, " I will leave tho battle to the parsons— am but a layman." Too many were despondent, believing in the devil and not in God, and that wrong was stronger than right. And there were those who were timid and afraid to make a stand for ri"lit. The weakness of the Church was that there were so many who failed to stand and fight the devil together. Let us play the man. There was nothing to sap manhood in Christianity, nothing false or sentimental in it, or to make the Christian crawl, as ho did sometimes in our miserable hymns, but there was a good deal in Christianity to lift him up and make him play the man and bring out all the best and noblest in him. Suppose we did not play the man? Let a man cease to do so and he plays the fool, wastes his heritage from God and uses to base purposes all that God puts within his reach. Those veterans went out to risk their lives against the foea very generous foe in the early days of the colony, and they did it for their peoples' sake and with the thought that on the lands where they fought there might rise up some fairer civilisation for their children's children to possess. The thought of home, of nation, and of loved ones was the thought that made them strong in battle. 0 what need there was of Christian strength in New Zealand to fight the devil in that spirit. We wore a nation of hypocrites. We were multiplying cur defence force, keeping off disease, rooting up noxious weeds, and always trying to avert evils, whilst we let the old sins of drink and gambling come in and sap our manhood and take possession of our people. The one war which every man in the nation should take ill hand was the war with sin. That was the work we had to do for our people. It were well for us if we made the cities of New Zealand the cities of God and no one else's cities. In these times we were learning a good deal of city life." A good deal had. been done for the most lovely city of Auckland, and - they could do more by coming to the conviction that, after all, the true purity and the true sanitation of the city was its moral health. They wanted love and reverence of eternal things, and should realise that the joy and happiness of a city were amusements kept free from vice. Let them make this city a true city of God, bring in and defend righteousness within its boundaries. The preacher closed with an appeal to the " brave old fathers" present, who fought for us year 3 ago, to fight for us still. They had laid aside their earthly weapons, but God had given them spiritual weapons with which to fight. _ Let them teach their sons that the finest victory was to be found fighting on God's side. At the close of the service the National Anthem was sung.