PUNISHMENT DUE

New Zealand Herald, Volume 79, Issue 24370, 4 September 1942, Page 4

PUNISHMENT DUE

CRY FOR RETRIBUTION REDEDICATION PLEDGE "I think the Archbishop of Canterbury was perfectly right when he said I that it is our bounden duty to demand the punishment of the hardened criminals who arc torturing and murdering innocent men, women and children because they cannot bend them to their will and reduce them to abject slavery," said Archbishop Averill, speaking at a mid-day service of rededication at St. Matthew's Church yesterday, at which there was an overflow attendance. The cry of the tortured and starved bodies and souls of those in the enemycontrolled countries and in concentration camps must be a cry to God tor vengeance, for retribution. lne

The cry of the tortured and starved bodies and souls of those in the enemycontrolled countries and in concentration camps must be a cry to God tor vengeance, for retribution. lne preacher could not think that the sympathetic heart of God —the God of justice and compassion—would "turn a deat ear to that cry. . "We dare not face life for ourselves and for others," said the Archbishop, "if men and nations can perpetrate the most fiendish crimes and get away with it. We cannot contemplate the possibility of recurring world wars. It'is surely a Christian duty to cleanse the world of fiendish doctrines and practices which are making existence a horrible nightmare for millions. "Forgiveness is impossible until our enemies are forgiveable. Repentance must be the condition of forgiveness, and repentance a complete change or mind and purpose." _ . The duty of the Christian was clear. It was to'fight on and on to a finish, however terrible might be the cost. The congregation joined in the following statement of _ rededication ".Engaged as we are in a conflict between God and the devil, between Christ and anti-Christ, between freedom and slavery, between peace and the recurring horrors of war, I here and now rededicate myself to the service of God and the winning of the war. So help me God."