CALL TO SERVICE.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume II, Issue 593, 4 January 1916, Page 9

CALL TO SERVICE.

BE WORTHY OF VICTORY. SERMON BY REV. W. B. SCOTT. In the course of his sermon at Springston Methodist Church on Sunday night, the Rev. W. B. Scott, in dealing with the contention that the National Government had in some respects failed to grip the situation created by the war, pointed out that neglect of the just claims of our soldiers for transportation to their homes while ou Christmas leave was an illustration of this. How could the Government expect liberal responses to urgent recruiting appeals when the men, who, sacrificing home and position, and possibly their lives, and men who may never be able to enjoy another Christmas with their friends, were thrust into the. background and their leave rendered valueless, that other people, failing or refusing to realise the

I j seriousness of the crisis, might attend races or travel from place to place on I pleasure bent. In such times as these | the Government had a responsibility | which should make it alive to the fact that our soldiers were not chattels, but men. The preacher quoted from the recent remarks of General McCoy to show that the Empire was still blind to Ithe seriousness of the position, and that j there was necessity to heed the Bishop of Christchurch 7 s appeal to clear the [decks for action. Though many were i engaged in Red Cross work, there were ! still more who did nothing, and even [half of those who were supposed to be I working were only playing at it, or i muddling through. There were instances ] of people who, while doing little for i either Eed Cross or Patriotic Funds, i used these funds as excuses for doing ! nothing at all in other directions. While I we believe that God is in Heaven, and [will not allow the Hun to ultimately | triumph because his policy is so ani tagonistic to the teaching of our Masiter, yet the defeat of the Hun did not | necessarily mean the victory of the AI- ! lies. Before to-day God had used uni expected means for working ont His deI signs. If the British nation closed its

eyes to the seriousness of the position and failed to live up to its responsibilities at home as well as on the field of battle, then victory would come in another way, and Britain would stand humiliated before the world. There was work for all to do, and during 1916, if we prayed for victory and lived and worked as we prayed, doing all that we could for the nation with our time, our energy, and our purse, then God's band would guide us to victory. ,