THE CHURCH AND THE WAR.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume III, Issue 701, 10 May 1916, Page 2

THE CHURCH AND THE WAR.

; CRITICISMS AT THE SYNOD. ■I FAILURE TO RISE TO THE j OCCASION. j At yesterday \s mooting of the General Synod ii motion by Archdeacon Mac--1 Murray, embodying the necessity for the rendering of thanks to God for the | many national mercies manifested iduring the war, caused considerable discussion as to whether the Church had failed in its responsibilities. Archdeacon MjicMurray briefly outlined the many incidents when defeat or destructiou had been narrowly 'averted during the nation's present campaigns. Hut, the speaker went on, ■the soul of the nation had not yet been I touched. We took up our newspapers 'as wo would an exciting book. We , were still absorbed in our money ; snaking, our racing and frivolous amuseniMits. There was no contrition for our ! follies. If the war was to end tol morrow il would be a very sad thing, ' because we would have achieved vieitory without having learned the, lesson j which God intended us to learn, because still we had not been purified by the lire of affliction. Any peace without this purification would be premature. He did not like to throw stones at the Church, he knew its difficulties —the gross materialism of its people —but it had not risen to its opportunity. As individuals, and he did not exclude himself in this respect, they, too, had neglected their opportunities. They I might have prayed more, they might I have denied themselves more. If the | nation had failed it was because as injviduals we had failed. This was true, Moo, of the Church. If the Church had j'd'on a lead, the nation an 1 "*" have lienn |affected thereby, for the Church could inspire the nation, lie appealed to the IChurch to be a real saving salt. The war had been the cause of inspiration lof loyalty of our earthly king. It should have inspired loyalty,to the King of Kings; that was the fundamental factor necessary to achieve victory. After the Napoleonic wars a congress; of I'russia and Austria had formed a combination from which had sprung the evils of militarism, which affected the j liberty of Europe. This was because, in j the settlement after those great wars, men's hearts had remained untouched, and from the seed sown then we were reaping today, if, in the winding-up, when the German • power had been crushed, we as'a nation had not learned the lessons intended by Providence, thou we would also sow an ill harvest, which- future generations would reap, j Dean Carrington said he did not want] ro criticise the nation's unpr-oparedness for war in August, B)14, for then the Church was in exactly the same position. When war was declared, the neople were told to pray, but they had forgotten how, Those who could not make the largest sacrifice of personal service in the field, should remembo; j 'there were other sacrifices they could,, make. They must put aside their, vaiii ties. The war was seized upon with ! its fancy fairs and carnivals as a great \ game. '(Hear, hear.) AVe still concern j ed ourselves with our race meetings and the accumulation of riches. The latter liad become an obsession, and, now it seemed God had ordained that our worship of Mammon should be brought to nought. The treasures on earth which we had laid up were being poured out in our daily war expenditure of £5,000,000. In conclusion, he would say that we'were not in a position'to! inspire -flie'nation' until we were ourselves inspired with'the spirit of God'. Canon Mayne (Napier) considered that the position in which the ' Church now found itself was because it liad missed the 'opportunity of unification. The Anza'e Day Volobrations should have been a gathering, not of separate churches, but of united Christians, acknowledging one God, one faith. By holding aloof, on that day from the other denominations the Anglican Church had done itself iucaculable. harm. We advocated the combination of the nations .to light the common foe, but were not prepared to unite in the worship of God. lie was as good a churchman as any in the'room, but he failed to understand why, if the Bishop of London and heads of the Church in England had joined with the other denominations in national services, the Bishops of New Zealand could have made their recent decision to take no action. (I')issent- and cries to; proceed.) II was no use sending out. the motion proposed through the Bishops, for their failure to lead the people had resulted in lack of confidence.. . Several points of order were here raised as to whether Canon Mayne was speaking to the motion or not, but the Primate overruled the objections, and the speaker proceeded. He said that unless they were prepared to join with their brethren of the other churches, temporarily hiving aside their differences, in united worship of one common Cod ami faith', the Church of England, instead of leading as the church of the Kmpire, would lose its premier! position. The Bishop of Auckland suggested that a day of national repentance be fixed for the Sunday nearest August i, the completion of the second year of Hie war. There was a danger of confusing unity with uniformity. The Saviour had prayed "Grant that they be one," and they should pray for the real unity of God's Church. The motion, which embodied an amendment suggested by .Dean Carrington, that the Synod request the Bishops to send a message to the people of the Chinch that they pray for spiritual guidance in this present national crisis, was then carried.