THE WAIKATO INDEPENDENT FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1942. FACE UP TO IT.

Waikato Independent, Volume XLII, Issue 3647, 11 September 1942, Page 2

THE WAIKATO INDEPENDENT FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1942. FACE UP TO IT.

“We need to face up courageously to the seriousness and gravity of the situation and to cease talkink so constantly about the certainty of victory and the ever-increasing supply of material weapons of war.” This was the text of a statement made at St. Matthew’s Church, Auckland, on the National Day of Prayer by Archbishop Averill, and it was certainly timely. There is still far too much sitting back in New Zealand, and far too much idle talk. It used to be: “It cant happen here! ” Now they say: “ The Yanks are here, so everything is alright!” There is a greater need than ever to-day for everyone to put his or her shoulder to the war Wheels if we are to push them and us to victory.

Nothing will do but the complete defeat of Germany and her satellites —ltaly and Japan. They are still very powerful, and straining every effort to force upon us their unholy will. Every single man, woman, and child in this Dominion can do something. No matter how small or large—its the cumulative result that counts. So much for the material side.

Then there is the spiritual side, and we cannot do better than quote Archbishop Averill when he said the other day:

“We must never lose sight of the real inwardness of the war. We know quite well that a victory for our enemies would mean the dethroning of God and His Christ and the substitution of the most subtle and deady paganism in their place It is no use shutting our eyes to the unpleasant truths, for the very principles for which we profess we are fighting, whether we realise it or not, are God’s gift to the world.

“The task before the Allies is .to defeat their enemies and the utter banishing of those spiritual powers of evil which are obsessing them, and so we need to face this fourth year of war with'a clear vision of what a world in which God is dethroned, would mean for mankind. To-day, I believe that God, through the King, is calling us to realise the need of a still greater spiritual effort, and still greater will ingness to face the necessary sacrifice. God expects every one of us to do his duty.

“We must not shirk our duty tq mete out just punishment to the hardened criminals who are torturing and murdering innocent men, women, and children because they cannot bind them to their unholy will and reduce them to abject slavery. The cry of 'the tortured, starved, dishonoured bodies and souls of men and women in concentration camps and in conquered countries is surely a cry to God for vengeance and of ~ retribution, and I cannot think the God of justice and compassion will turn a deaf ear to their cry.”