PADRE'S FIGHTING SERMON.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 14590, 27 April 1918, Page 4

PADRE'S FIGHTING SERMON.

. ♦ . r— :-. ' CALL OF THE DEAD. THE DUTY OF THE LIVING. "Death Rather Than Dishonor" was the theme of a stirring: address delivered by an Anzac chaplain, the Rev. T. F. Taylor, at the Anzac Memorial Service held m the Wellington Town Hall; There must have been 2500 people m the big hall, dad every soul m the audience was profoundly moved by the vigor afid pathos and manifest sincerity of the chaplain's message.- For the words .were pre-eminently the words of a man, rather than ' the counsels of a preacher. "In the minds of the men who went ashore at Anzac on, that morning there was one prevalent idea/.'-. he said. "There was only one thing about* which all the men were certain, and they -are as certain about it to,- day as they were three years ago. It was. 'We must win ;■ to lose is impossible. I believe m my soul — I am speaking now to those who have not been aiid those who cannot go —that if you; asked a New Zealander m the line to-day he would say, 'We going to win, but' you niust give' us time.' (iLpplajise.) I , say to you .men and women '.that the man there, refuses to give m. If~the most pessimistic soul were to go there and say to any man m the line, 'Germany is mighty, Germany has overrun half of France,' the soldier at the front would say, 'Germany has hot won; give us time to win.' .••;.' The message comes from the dead to the living, from the dead at Anssac, m Egypt, m Palestine, m Malta, m England,; m France — wheresoe'er the New Zealanders have bdin, • the voices of -the dead icall:On L yoii s w follow on and take the places of those" who had to give up they died. The dead are call* ing ojn ybu= and your sons ; to carry oh,. The greatest respect you can sh6w the dead :is by finishing the work they began.' My dear people, there can be no thought of losing, no thought of a draw. There can be •• only, one thought m the minds \of all of us here. However long it take, however much it cost, it must be straight out victory. ( Applause.) "It' has been my: privilege to watch man after man die; and I say. to you: sincerely, without running anyi risk: at all of being contradicted,' ihat. never m my life have I knelt: by the side of a dying man who murmured at dying. Death is- nothing. Dishonor, is worse than death. We are not brave people. There ai*e no mock heroics about us. . We don't i pretend that we like shell fire or the horrid sound: of machine-gun bullets, we, don't like to have to meet the Geiv mans; with the bayonet. But we are going to be m at the. finish, and if some of -us have to die we will not 'grumble. We/ will die because, -we must. ... . THe •British people will be unbeaten just so long as their hearts are sound, and no longer. The dead call on us to carry on. I don't think there is any danger of New Zealand not doing her part, but I say :to you very solemnly that love of life, love of ease, love of homes, love oi money, love of rank, must not prevent us from accepting, the heritage the dead have passed on to us. I can see nothing m the world to prevent us New Zealanders 'as a people saying, 'We are going to t carry on to the end, even if we have to raise the age limit to seventy-five !'• (Laughter and applause.) •-.-.< ' '"Ehere are some people foolish enough to point out others who are not doing their duty. ; What care I? Because some people choose to fail, must I fail? If others care to leave their -duty undone it is no business of mine. Let them live, let them flourish on their ill-, gotten gain's if they will! I prefer death to 1 dishonor. (Applause.) I ask mot for equality of sacrifice— not ' at all.' I care not what my neighbor does ;' that is his business. The dead call on every man and women here, 'Do your duty !' That fs the only thing material, and do it regardless of what other people do. Let it not be said that the dead " died' in Vain, that they were nobler than we, that we refused to carry on. All that matters is that we must win. v ' • "As a man> I say to you I had rather see the British race extinguished^ as a race by fighting 4han see it dishonored* If we cannot win' this war without wip-, ing out the' race, let us die—^-die with our backs to the wall.' Let it at leakt be said of us as a x^ace, - 'They died ing/ ' ( My dear people, the "greatest things are the : things that 'are unseen. The greatest things, are not material. i i .We started out with a principle; we, were going to prove 1 that might -is not right. The principle is still the same. ;lt has not altered or changed;! Not for land are we fighting, ndt' for commerce, not to keep up ow name as a nation; not to' gain:' colonies j but !to maintain the principle that a puny State has rights which a giant State miist not violate. For that we 'f ought on ;that twenty-fifth of April, 1915, and for that are we fighting still. It were better for us ;as a race to die. than, to surrender our claim.,. . .' .: *It there are returned men listening to me who are fit and able to go backwell, we are going back. ; : There are people r In New Zealand who tell me, 'You have done your- bit.* Men, I say. there is no bit. • We joined for the whole. There iar no bit about it. If we baa pass a medical board— rby shamming — we'll dp it. If we can, by hook or crook, we will go back to it, not because we like it' t not because we are brave, not because we want patriotic speeches made about us, hot because we want to . be thanked 1 if we die, but; because we are men. (Applause.) And to those of you who cannot go, I say to you, 'Carry on, sacrifice everything to win/ " (Applause.' Chaplain Taylor wear© on his right arm. three 'blue chevrons and a red one, which means that he has .been oil service from the beginning. He has seen the New Zealanders m every Action of importance m which they have been engaged/ with the exception of these last battles, and it was very evident from the reception given him by the soldiers m theiaudience that they thought much j of him. • i