RELIGION AND SPORT.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 13350, 7 April 1914, Page 9

RELIGION AND SPORT.

SERVICE FOR SPORTING MEN.

(Special to Herald.) j AUCKLAND, this day. ! A crowded . congregation filled' St. Columbus Church Hall, Grey Lynn, on. Sunday,; evening, attracted no doubt by the announcement, that , the service would bo one specially for sporting* men, and tliat two addresses would.be given, one by f the Rev. W. G. Monckton and the pother by • the Rev. Jasper . Caldel*. priest in charge of the Grey. Lynn parochial district-. Some Weeks ago Mr Calder delivered rt. sermon to sporting nieii„ in which, he discussed the ethics of the racecourse and of clean sport, illustrating his remarks with anecdotes of his own experiences as a keen follower of racing. Subsequently the Diocesan Social Question Commission, (of. which the Rev. W. (5. Monckton is chairman) issued a public statement io tlie effect that it entirely dissociated itself from the views expressed by Mr Calder, who had not given liis address under its auspices. To this Mr Calder replied that he considered the Cbmmifisibn had taken a very one-sided view>* and hinted that with more first-hand knowledge, bf tlie subject in question the members might be Better qualified to make criticisms. The Rev. Mr Monckton took as his text, "Provide things honest in the sight of all men" (Romans xii — 17.) The preacher said that St. Paul did hot condemn any special thing, but instead he laid down a principle. He did not say what was 1 dishonest, but his command Was to "'provide things honest.*' Elsewhere he said that all things were lawful, but all things w'tere not expedient, and he left the expediencey to the judgment of the individual. Jesus .samilaHy did not say that this or tliat little thing was wrong, but laid down broad principles bf conduct. This was important, because in these davs most people believed that if they abolished only the outward semblance of an evil they abolished the evil itself. The taking of a risk might be good or bad. All depended on the Object with which it was taken. There were many legitimate and even noble risks, hut it was otherwise in the sweepstake, where many put in money and only one drew the pmev There was the root of the eviK the individual benefiting at the expense of the community. The question of money, when it entered in a sport, generally meant its ruiih In New Zealand this had been demonstrated in professional running, and to a larpe extent in professional cycling and billiards. The age of individualism, said the speaker, was ending, and the new age of corporate effort would undoubtedly have its downfall unless the individual worked for the honor of serving his fellow men. This spirit would he- best fostered if in "games and sports the honor of • winning, as among the Greeks of old, was the only prize to be won. ' The Rev. Mr . Calder proceeded to give a rather unconventional but most earnest address on "Manliness." which he defined as a combination of friendship, courage, discipline, and religion. "I haven't Worried you sporting Doys with much religion," he said. "I've made it gradual, but I want you to ask yourselves what sort of religion have T allowed to come into my life for the l>ast ten, twenty, it may be forty years? People will tell you that moral principle is enough. There are lots, of men leading perfectly moral live.-*- -because they're shut up" in gaol. (Laughter.) What we want is morality which, will make nt- do right because* we want to. If von trust me" this once," continued the preacher, "accept religion and give God a chance, this is the beginning of what we call Holy Week, and next Friday (Good Friday) you mav be tempted to make the day one of pleasure, the very day bn which Christ gave up his life for iis. I tell yoii I'd much rather see n man go for a picnic on a Sunday than a Good Friday. I know you will find people who will turn up their noses and say. "I'm just as good as you,' and M don't go to church— l know there are lots of hypocrite?- inside the. church-' God forgive them for it. T have tried gathering you together. "It's my way of showing the brotherhood of man. Please help llie through." Mr Calder then proceeded to make a plea for religious instruction in State schools. "Don't think I've got you here for your vote," he explained. . "If I did you would be right in thinking me a rotten poor sport." (Laughter.) As an example for the, need of Bible teaching he told a story of a rtna.ll boy who was asked to write -hi essay on St.- Paul. It began thus. "St. Paul is a brown horse, 15.3 high, now at Hukerenui." (Laughter.) "1 know it's funny." said the preacher, "but a small boy who knows absolutely nothing about St. Paul, probably knows nothing of his Bible and nothing of the love of Chj'ist." Having explained that this would probablv be his last address of the kind at St. Columbus Hall. Mr Calder made a {-special appeal to his sporting friends in the congregation to take up religion. "It's too much to ask you to go through the temptations of the public ■ house, the racecourse, and the brothel," he said, "without the love of Christ. Do you know that the reallv religious people— l don't mean the miser^ able, sneaking hypocrites— have got a quarter of the battle won before we've even started." He appealed to them to take up prayers again, the prayers they had learned in childhood. "I ask those who are pals of mine," he concluded, "to do it for my sake. Some day vou will do it for God's sake. Good-bve< and God bless yon." After the service a number of the snorting men present accepted Mr Calder's invitation to come to the vicarage for a talk and a smoke!