SPIRITUAL ISSUES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23490, 30 October 1939, Page 12

SPIRITUAL ISSUES

THE PRESENT CONFLICT

CALL TO DEDICATION GRAMMAR SCHOOL SERVICE The fact that the issues in tho present world conflict are essentially moral and spiritual was a dominant note in the address given by the Rev. A. C. Nelson at a commemoration service held in the Auckland Grammar School assembly hall yesterday morning. The gathering was arranged by the Old Hoys' Association of the school to mark its 70th anniversary and also in this

time of renewed crisis to honour the memory of the old boys of the school who gave their lives in the last war. The president of the Old Boys' Association, Mr. T. C. Webb, presided over an attendance of about 500 past and present pupils, and explained their dual purpose to honour the founders of tho school and the memory of those who bad sacrificed their lives on the altar of liberty and justice. Psalm 46 was read by the headmaster, Mr. C. M. Littlejohn, and Mr. Nelson offered prayer.

After paying a tribute to the influence of the school and to the vision of its founders, Mr. Nelson said they especially commemorated the great company who, from 1914 to 1918, gave their lives for that which they held dearer than life itself.

A Sure Word Amid the bewildering complexities of the situation in which we were now involved, there was a sure word concerning its cause and cure. It was the word which Israel's prophets thundered | for three ccntures, the ultimate testimony of history to an eternal moral | principle, that the evils that afflict the nations are the nemesis of their sins. "Believe me," said Mr. Nelson, "there is no way of putting the present situation right and emerging from it into something finer and more secure unless first of all we realise our common guilt for the situation in which wo find ourselves." If it was so, as our leaders were constantly declaring, that the real essence of the contest was spiritual—and there were increasing indications that that was true—then it was well to remind ourselves that righteousness, truth, freedom, justice and peace could only be secured on God's terms.

"Because the issue is spiritual and moral," he continued, "there can he no final solution in force. War cannot decide who is right, but only who is left. The real strength and security of a nation is in tho very thing for which this school stands, the character and spiritual ideals of its people. It can be defeated only from within. It is our spiritual and cultural privilege that is in jeopardy.

New World Order "Tho very foundations are endangered by the depreciation of moral values, tlic decline of religion, tho glamour of sensationalism and the luro of uncontrol. This new world order of which we dream, for which our elder brethren died, and for which we engage in this drama of death, cometh down from above. It is the Kingdom of God, and that can come only through the individual heart of man seeking the utmost for the highest in the service of God and man." At the close of the address tho gathering stood in silence for a few minutes to unite in a solemn act of commemoration and dedication. , The service closed with tho singing of the National Anthem.