REPLY TO THE OBJECTORS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12710, 4 August 1919, Page 6

REPLY TO THE OBJECTORS.

MR ISITTS ADDRESS.

” I am glad that you are honouring Methodism by placing tins tribute in your church,” said Mr L. M. Isitt, ALP., after unveiling an Honour Roll in the Durham Street Methodist Church last night. “ I have not,” he added, “ the slightest doubt of the righteousness and seemliness of this action. There are men in this country who have refused to fight—who are making persistent attacks upon the irreligion of members of the Christian Church wh’o, like myself, believe that, however hateful and hideous war may bo, circumstances may occur that render it not only necessary and justifiaole, but render it the imperative duty of every thinking and able-bodied man to bear a part in the defence of liis country. Some of. these pacifists sa y. when we unveil a Roll of Honour, that we are dishonouring God—that we are _ neglecting the teachings of the Onnst whom we serve, and are glorifying war. I question whether tlTe Germans could bring a more unfair charge against their enemies than this imputation upon our motives—glorifying J war I I can hardly imagine a xnim in tins b look-soaked earth, after five of our awful experience, who would glorify war.

' W hen you pay a tribute to a physician who has given his life in the cause of science by experimentally inixuilaimg himself with a germ, do you call that glorifying disease? When*'wo honour our men who have given their lives to save us from German conquest, do you call that glorifying war? I hate war as I hate drink, because of the misery it causes. War is a supremo crime, a supreme folly, the lunacy of nations. It is as foolish and silly as it is cniel and wicked- It exasperates me that mi ter so many years of civilisation we still have recourse to war to settle our difficulties. Whether, the League ot Nations is successful or not, I welcome _it as a gloribus attempt,’ and a step in the right direction. But I say solemnly that it is my intense convictlon,,thA under certain conditions, it would be far worse for a nation to submit than to fight.” For half a century. Mr Isitt con-.-wv, OC A °? nn;lnv had been obsessed with the lust ot world conquest, and Irnl tr f ,n for ifc as a fighter trains for the ring. All that a nation Br n‘T di l do to flVosd tllQ struggle. Before God he would say ho believed that at last, when, Britain orew the sword, there never had been m history a time when a nation drew to uyiorrl with so much reluctance, and with higher and more disinterested f ° tU6s -,. were an extraordinary combination of religionists and irrehgionmts, of loyal and disloyal, of mere shirkers, and honest doubters who P m T f d ii their eoBr ««® h y the wav in which they met their hardships. They !™ d . a Jl ™ble of contradictory and raijmg arguments. He only wished I wLf? 11 ■ that war is “j . nn i™lMfl; that bloodshed Mr uf4 ed *?. s ]? lnt of Christ,” said Mr Isitt. _ But they conclude that if your enemies seek to enslave or destroy you, and not only you. but to enslave and destroy or outrage other r omel 1 1 J or children, even if they aim at world conquest, if you have been a follower of Christ yon must disl° Ur a ™J es , and nav ies, you must to*,?' Io J, 6> flnd le * ve the nronJl+- hj G ° d V That , is “ tremendous proposition Personally, I have so little doubt as to the result that I should need a distinct, unmistakable message from the living God before I should he prepared to make the experiwTu 15 We *w t i h * a v ?° BUch message. We believe that faith in God should go hand in hand with common sense.” Christians, he continued, must never give way to the spirit of revenge, hut nowhere did he find an utteruiU by Christ that would justify him in standing quietly by while a ruffian outraged -J would risk,” he said, the inheritance of Heaven and the sufferings of hell before I would do it behave that for the honour of my soul I should bo prepared to clias^ t Tof my daughter to the brutality of the Huns.” Such interoretatoonsof the Divine will were, he saw, made by men who had no special claim to intellectual distinction or enlightenment. Such an interpretation would smother every chivalrous instinct he had in ms heart, and would reduce ;V S Tnan “ ood Jo such a miserable thing that he would feel leprous to the end of his days. The men who made these interpretations were often inconsistent. l Ihroimhoht their lives they failed to put the same interpretation upon the Divine utterances. Take, for example, Christ s utterance, “Go give all that thou hast to the poor.” It did not mean that they were to go in absolute poverty. If I mot a conscientious objector walkmg down to his office and said. Come with me to Kaiapoi— I want your help in delivering an address there,’ would he say, ‘ I will come to Rangiora with you?’ If I f e lfc in bis j pocket and took away his watch, would ho say ‘Stop, you have loft the chain?’ Is it not'a fact that man vof the most prominent agitators in Christchurch are those most prominent and eager to place laws upon the Statute Book to force the capitalists, upon threat of punishment, to cease oppression in the commercial, world? Well and good ; hut how does that square with no-resist-ance? If they say ‘ God will honour our submission,’ how do they propose to stop tho sweating or the emoloyees? If it is wrong to resist the forceof another nation, surely it is wrong to resist force in our own country. They have acin the use of force in onr civil community. If to-morrow we abandoned all legal restraint, life and property would be no longer safe, anarchy would prevail, the worst section of society would rise to control,, and life would become one long hell of wretchedness and suffering. We do not glorifv war. Me hate it. We pray God that the tome will come when, by the League of Nations or some other method, we may stop war, but so long as war exists we have the Christian right to honour the men who tore themselves away from tho happiness of home, from peaceful ambitions, pleasures and promises of life, to face the utmost horror of war that we might he saved from its evil effects. ’