AT CHRIST CHURCH CATHEDRAL.

Colonist, Volume LVII, Issue 14160, 26 April 1916, Page 5

AT CHRIST CHURCH CATHEDRAL.

There was a service in commemoration of Anzae Bay at Christ Chiirck Cathedral yesterday rorenoon, when tho large congregation included the. .Mayor and city councillors and the Town cleric, who were present hy invitaiior. of the vicar. A special form of serv'eo was used, which, included as; the Scripture lesson Daniel i-x., 3-20, ''the p:u^er of a patriot/ 5 in which the prophet makes confession of sins and prays ior tho restoration of Jerusalem. The Rev. Dr. Weeks, in the course of an address, said:— "My first duty is to welcome l]is Worship the Mayor and the members of the City Oouneii on the occasion of their first official visit to the- Oathodrai since my • appointment herb. Then in all sincerity I ,vi>uld that to address you someone had been chosen who has for longer been identified with your Dominion life-—out) more intimate with your Dominion forces. But perhaps you. will condone this defect when I remind'you that my boy has fought, at G;allipoli shoulder to shoulder with, yours, and has lain next yours under the same "Rod Cross flag. The occasion of our assembly here is not an ordinary one.. We meet to honour tho ■memory of thoso who loved not their lives unto the death, and to proffer to those who mourn their loss our most respectful and heartfelt sympathy. _ We do not m<?et to commemorate a victory in tho technical sense of that word. Stripped of all verbiage tho expedition to the Dardanelles was a failure. But though it was not given to us mortals to command success, we did more, we deserved it. Gallipoli was not. technically, a victory, and yet perhaps its moral value will prove to be even gmiter than if our arms had been crowned with brilliajnt, military success. For wo hare seen the triumph of human courage, self-abne-gation, discipline, and that persistency which is the essence of heroism, over unparalleled difficulties, and over obstacles, already •■ formidable by nature, intensified to "the-lust degree--by;-mili-tary skill. Nor shall the lesson be forgotten in days to come. And so the service ■ papers' now in your hands bear the stately lines of Milton as the keynote of' this seiriee:—

" 'Nothing is hem for tears, nothing to wail Or knock the breast, no weakness, no , contempt, Dispraise or blame, nothing but well and fair Anu wiicix, may quiet us in a death so noble. '

"Here then are some of the moral and spiritual- gams of 'Anzao' —ours to conserve and Lumct on to those who folr low us, the citizens of the future, with its inevitable complications for the whole cv ihsod world.

"The power of a great ideal: Throughout the Empire, men have realised this war is different from all others in which we have been involved. Thoy are conscious that Honour and Truth, Civilisation and Humanity are at -.stake. 'Treaties are only binding while*, it is the interest of the State to keep them.' The State's highest duty is to increase its power. The State is the sole'judge of the ■ morality of its own action. It is above morality. Whatever is iiecessary is moral.' In sveh specific terms has Germany raisod the issue. It is Might versus Eight; .Paganism versus Christianity; Corsica versus Galileo. It is tin; perception of the issues at stake which has evoked the magniiicent response from all sorts and conditions of men in every corner of tho Empire. Doubtless there has been much of. .the mere quest of adventure, but in the main a noble idealism lias prompted the ready reply when the Motherland called her sons." It must not be that we prove less responsive, less susceptible,, to the power of a great ideal! ''The constraint of obvious duty: Prior to the outbreak of war there were ominous features in our social life which filled careful observers with -apprehension. They detected «•■, weakening in mir moral fibre, p. ."/rowing softness, an increasing tendency to rank pleasure as the liJ-fit and most desirable tiling in life. Duty was .a necessary evil, discipline intolerable, responsibility an unmitigated bore. Then came the discipline'" of War; and Duty, the stern Jaw-givor, once more came) into her own/ 'The Australian and Now Zealand Army Corps will take and hold that position,' and again as often in our 'rough island story, the path of duty was the path of glory.' For henceforth, so long as we are an Empire, Anzac, Duty, and Glory are synonymous terms. From the graves of Gallipoli, a voice re-echoes the slogan that this province can never forget, 'Britain expects that every man will do his duty.' "The inspiration of heroic sacrifice: Here I t^.uch a tender chord. These lives 'are not laid down in vain if they enable us to realise that sacrifice is tho law of progress—that ho who suffers most hfis most to give. At this season, --in this house—this the supreme message of Anzac: Can we honour these and neglect Him? Only as the spiritual gains of Anzac are enthroned among us can we fil! worthily our part in our Empire's destiny." Beetlun on's Funeral March was very effectively played by the Cathedral organist, Mr N. It. Williams, and the Last Post was sounded, the congregation standing the while.