IMPRESSIVE SERVICE AT THE STADIUM.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19530, 13 July 1925, Page 10

IMPRESSIVE SERVICE AT THE STADIUM.

100,000 PEOPLE .PRESENT. PRESENCE OF THE KING AND QUEEN. FOUR PRINCIPLES OF CHRISTIAN CITIZENSHIP. (Fbom Ouh Own Correspondent.) LONDON, June 2. It is estimated that lUU,OeO people wore present within the Stadium enclosure tor the Empire ehamisgiviug service on Sunday, and beyond a doubt it may be characterised as uomg tlio most impressive act oi worsmp, on so large a scale, in the history ot the Empire. A vast crowd is always a spectacular and moving signt, but hero there was more bean a great concourse ol people, lor there was brilliance ot colour, a military pageant tnat no country can surpass, picturesque grouping ot lamous and representative bodies, and the presence ot many memoers ot the Royal .Family. JGepole ol ail classes and all denominations united in the great act ot puolic “thank.* giving tor the Empire builders ol the past, and for prayer that the Empire (judders ot tne present and ot the future may work togoiner to further God’s peace on oartn’’—a supplication that was made m silence and proviued, perhaps, the most impressive few moments ot a memorable scene. the King and Queen, with the Duke and Duchess 01 xork, i'rmceas Mary, the Duke of Connaught, Prince and Princess Arthur ol Conuaugat, Princess .Beatrice, Princess Polena Victoria, Lady Maud Carnegie, and otlier members of the Royal Family were seated with tae public, while on the dais Hum which their Majesties had declared the Exhibition open a lortmght before, wore grouped the archbishops, eisnops, and clergy ot all denominations —Dree urchin un, Salvationists, Anglican bishops irbm treiand and Scotland, with their orothren ironi Engianu, and the Archbishops ot lorn and Canterbury. iatnged aoove the pavilion were some 30bo surpliood choirs under hr G. M rherson (organist ot at. i'aul s Cathedral), drawn from tne London Church chons’ Association, bt. Paul's Cathedral, the Boy Bcouts' (Special Choir, and on condon churches who rendered the devotional music moat eliectively, ami who, it is aptly remarked, looked like animated snow llanos in their w nite surplices. THE EMPIRE SYMBOLISED The crowds began to arrive an hour beloro the service, and during the whole ol the time tnero was something of interest to oe seen, constantly developing and con ftanlly changing luce a kaleidoscope. lielore tne service opened a display was carried out that symbousod the Empire m hie and colour. Tne massed drmus and bfes advanced across the arena to tne Royai Pavilion, counter-marched and wneeled into position on the right. They were followed oy the pipers, skirling the ’(bins Pare wed to Gibraltar," who toon up their place facing the drums. The massed bands ol the Royal Marinos, Brigade ol Guards, and the Royal Air f orce, m glowing uinlorrns, then moved at the slow-slep with such accuracy that the audience forgot tliat it was a oongrega tion, and repeatedly burst into cheering. The massed bands were a thousand strong. Their Majesties wore announced by a tanfare from the State Trumpeters, and r*> ceived with the singing ot two verses oi the Rational Anthem, m which the con gregation joined, but otnerwiso there was no demonstration, the occasion bemg observed as a religious celebration. TWO IMPOSING PROCESSIONS. \ Headed by the State Trumpeters and Mounted Band' of the Household Cavalry, the “lay procession” entered through the Eastern tunnel, and here was a microcosm of the Empire of yesterday, to-day, anu to-morrow. A distinguished figure in this column, tali and upngnt, at once so reminiscent and suggestive, was the venerable Earl of Meatn, to whoso vision and faith Empire Day has become a visible reality under the hag. Yeomen from the Tower, disabled soldiers, members of the British Legion, nurses, and life-boatmen repeated the suggestion of past and present, and in the roar came lads from the Royal Naval School at Green wioh and the Duke of V ork’a School to represent, with Scouts, Girl Guides, and the Church Lad’s Brigade, the Empire’s chief hope for the future. Flags oi all the countries of the Empire were fluttering in the breeze, that of Row Zealand being carried by Major R. S. Park, Royal Now Zealand Artillery (under instruction at the Artillery College, Woolwich). All these people took tlioir allotted places on either side oi the dais. Then came the “Ecclesiastical procession,” heralded by the processional cross and the choir, composed of the children of the. Chapel Royal, St. James’s, in scarlet and gold coats, and singers from the Savoy Chapel, Westminster Abbey, and St. Paul’s Cathedral, led by Mr Sydney Nicholson, organist of Westminster Abbey, as they sang in progress to the dais, “Onward Christian Soldiers, ’ 1 THE IMPERIAL SPIRIT. The loud speakers worked faultlessly and the voices of all those conducting the service were carried distinctly to the farthest coiners. Some of the prayers were uttered from tlie dais in unison, with resonant and tolling effect. • The Aicuoishep of York delivered a stirring address, not too long, well thought out, and rich in material tor quiet meditation. . . “What mean wo by this service? he asked. “It means, does it not, that the tons of thousands here assembled and the hundreds of thousands now listening in distant places to my voice are with one heart and mind lifting this mighty fact in the world's life, which we call the British Empire, to the throne of God, in thanksgiving for the valiant service of our fathers who built it, in prayer that wo, their children, may have wisdom to know and strength to fulfil God’s purpose for it. We have need thus to enlarge and uplift our minds, for, as Edmund Burke said, ‘A groat Empire and little minds go ill together.’ And it is well to remember, as wo do this day and in this place, that the enduring bonds of the Empire must bo spiritual, not material. It will be knit and kept in one not by force or self-interest but by the constraint of a common spirit. . . . " How shall wo describe the true Imperial spirit? Lot me give for answer the words of a great Apostle: ‘ Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the King.’ These four principles of Christian citizenship * correspond in a striking way with the four ‘watchwords’ of tlio movement which has led to the observance of this Empire Day—duty, sympathy, responsibility, self-sacrifice. TASKS FOR THE STRONGEST. “If a Divine Purpose is behind and within this Empire, then boasting is excluded ; wo can only accept it humbly as a solemn trust for which each generation is answerable to Him Who gave it. The purpose may not always bo plain in the details of government. But the faith that it is there will constrain us to make ail Imperial policy a witness to the principles of justice, righteousness, compassion, and peace, which wo know to bo the Will of God. “ Honour the King—the spirit of selfsacrifice. Loyalty to tho King and to tho Empire of which ho is the centre and symbol will always be ready for solf-sacri-tice. Have we not seen it moving a million of our youngest and bravest sons to give their very lives? Loyalty of this high- sort is as truly needed still in the dally service of tho Empire at Home and across tho seas. To win from the land, tho mine, tho factory, the means of existence for teeming millions, to find new avenues ot honourable trade, to open out new resources of life, to maintain peace and minister justice, to carry throughout tho world the message of that gospel of tho love of God which is tho deepest bond of men —these are tasks that still call for the best minds, the bravest hearts, the strongest wills. “ Nay, let everyone who hears these words remember that whatever his work may be, to do it with all his might and in a spirit of goodwill is his way of honouring tho King and commonwealth. And because tho times are difficult, and the dangers that beset tho Empire great, it is for us to prove in all classes that tho springs of self-sacrifice have not run dry.” Following tho address, the blessing was pronounced by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Then, rising as one, the sons and daughters of the Empire, standing before their King, sang with a great voice the Recessional. “All People (hat on Earth Do Dwell.” The while the clerical procession the Archbishops and Bishops vested in scarlet and white—left tho dais, and returned to the opposite end of the Stadium and out, of sight. It was a long walk, Tho music throughout was perfect, and no rule could fail to bo touched by the beautiful unaccompanied singing of 3000 voices of the quaintly impressive old Chant, “God he in my head and in my understanding.”

ATTITUDE OF THE MULTITUDE. Great though the crowd was. its most remarkable characteristic was its reverence. Only once did it cheer —and that was when the King and Queen were leaving the Royal box; when it could not be restrained. Its appreciation of the music was expressed by the clapping of hands. There were two periods when such absolute silence on the part of so vast a multitude seemed quite incredible —when the Bishop of London called for mutual thanksgiving for the Elmpire builders of the past and prayer for those of the present, and the future; and during the hymn that accompanied the ecclesiastical procession. WE CAN ALL HELP. “The Archbishop (says the Times) went to the heart of the whole Imperial question when he declared that the enduring bonds of the Empire must be spiritual, not material, but that it will not be knit together by force of self-interest, but by a common spirit. He sees, ns many thinkers of all ages and of divers creeds have seen, that a purpose higher, greater, clearer than our own has been at work in history, and very signally in the astonishing history which has fashioned this Empire and brought it to the present stage of its development. It is our trust and duty in our time, os it will be the trust and duty in their day of those who come after us. to pursue and continue that development. We see the Empire taking fresh shape and revealing new tendencies, spiritual and material All of us. whatever be our condition and whatever bo our work, can do something to help these tendences into the right channels. We have but to do the work at our hand and to do it with our might. There is nothing new in the lesson, but, if any considerable number of the tens of thousands who listened to it will take it to heart and obey it. this Empire Day will have done something more than have shown them a splendid pageant and an impressive rite ”