A SERMON ON PEACE.

Otago Witness, Issue 1943, 14 February 1889, Page 10

A SERMON ON PEACE.

FORMATION OF A BRANCH OF THE PEACE SOCIETY. At St. Andrew's Church on Sunday evening, Mr Jones, of the London Peace Society, delivered before a large aadience, a sermon on the desira* bility of universal peace. He chose for his text the Bth, 10th, 13th, and 14fch verses of the second chapter of tke Gospel of St. Luke. He said he proposed to look into the question of peace as a principle taught by Jesus Christ. War waa entirely incompatible with the teaching of the founder of our religion. Referring to the armaments of the present generation, he said that there was a greater display of sheer brute force now than ever there was id the darkest days of heathendom — a sorrowful comment on those heavenly anticipations uttered 1900 years ago. He went on to quote authorities regarding the bellicose character of the European powera at the prpsent day, and the continual danger to. the peade of the world. It; was easy to see how this state of matters militated against the spread of the kingdom of Christ. It was the spirit of Cain and not of Ghrist that prevailed, and nations were ready to fight for ambition or out of revenge. France was at the present time under a blight of atheism, and there was widespread irreligion and doubt in Germany and other continental lands. Whence, then, came the influences for promoting the spread of the Gospel ? -Largely from England and America— the lands where the Gospel was free. As he had experienced all the horrors of war he was not likely to understate the physical evils of it, but he said without hesitation that the physical evils were not the distinguishing evils of it. No, the distinguishing evil was the moral evil. The whole cause of the war preparation* of the present day was the casting o£ the teachings, the doctrines, and the maxims of the founder of our holy religion to the winds in favour of the Pagan maxims of olden days. Then war promoted all its ends by means that were inhuman and unjust, and it was not the lawmakers who suffered, bnt the innocent women and children. In illustration of this he referred graphically to the destruction of a convent at Pelter, near Metz, by the German soldiers during the Franco-Prussian war, when 200 nuns and 600 children were turned out at ten minutes' notice before their beloved home was consigned to the flames. There was in all these things something that Christiana ought to face. Even defensive war, he contended, was not allowable ; because war sprang from the lusts of men ; it violated utterly the spirit of love, kindness, meekness, and forbearance ; it was at variance with tho principle) of the universal fatherhood of God and the universal brotherwood of man, because it was opposed to the plainest precepts of Christ him" self, and because it cut short human probation and hurled men with hands red in theit brothers' blood and hearts inflamed with passion suddenly and without warning into the solemn presence of God. The time would come when, through the Gospel of Christ, universal peace would prevail; and it was for all Christian men and women to help on that time. After the service a number of the congregation remained behind and formed tho nucleus o£ a peace society, of which Miss Kelsey was appointed secretary. About 60 persous gave in their names as members.