THE LATE KING.

Waipawa Mail, Volume XXIX, Issue 5564, 21 May 1910, Page 1

THE LATE KING.

Memorial Service. A crowded congregation attended the united church memorial service, held in the Municipal Theatre, yesterday afternoon. All sections of the community were strongly represented, thus testifying to the respect in which King Edward was held by his subjects in this part of the oversea dominions. The Oddfellows attended in regalia and the Fire Brigade in uniform. The crowd stood reverently as the Dead March was played by the j Orchestral Society and the first s P ar fc of the impressive burial service , f° r the dead was read by the Rev. H. > **• Cowx, M.A. Captain Fitness, of ] the Salvation Army, then read the lesson and the hymn “Nearer My God, , Thee” was sung by the united choirs i and the congregation. J The Rev. H. P. Cowx (Anglican) [ then delivered the following address : —lt is with deep and genuine sorrow 1 that we meet together on this solemn day of mourning to pay our last token of respect to our late honoured Sovereign, apd thus join with our countrymen all over the world in his funeral obsequies. We had hoped he would have been spared for many years to reign over us, but he has been taken, suddenly and unexpectedly, from our midst and we can only bow in humble submission to the will of our Heavenly Father, believing that “ He doeth all things well.” It will not bo a calamity to our nation if we learn therefrom “ not to put our trust in Princes nor in any child of man ” but in the Lord God Almighty who liveth and reigneth for ever and ever. “ He only is our shield and our defence and blessed are all they that put their trust in Him.” The life and work of King Edward VII., especially his great influence as a peacemaker, have been fully dwelt on in the newspapers and there is no need to go over them again, but there were some traits in his character which are but little known and which are worthy of mention on an occasion like the present, as evidence of his respect for morality and religion. His court was as pure and honourable as that of Queen Victoria. He discouraged intemperance and made it unfashionable ; he declared it unnecessary that toasts to his health should be drunk in wine and said that he would feel 1 quite as much honoured if they were 1 drunk in water. The King being the 1 fountain of honour and the supreme ' authority on etiquette, no one can dis- ' pute his verdict and total abstainers J all over the world are thankful for ] it. It is not generally known that the King, although he took a keen i interest in horse racing, never i gambled and his letter to the ' Archbishop of Canterbury is worth quoting again : “ I have a horror of gambling and shall do my utmost to discourage others who have an inclination to it, as I consider that gambling, like intemperance, is one of the greatest curses which a country can be afilicted with.” To come now to the deeper side of the King’s character, the beautiful hymn which we have just sung was his favourite. He said that there was “ none more touching nor one that went more truly to the heart.” We can see :in this choice, plain evidence that he . was one who feared God. He had passed through the waters of affliction, experiencing two dangerous ill - nesses, and suffering a sad bereF.veraent in the loss of his eldest son. i These troubles, however, were ( verruled for good and became the moans of drawing him nearer to God Of

late yearß and especially since his accession, the King paid more earn, est attention to religion and endeavoured to promote its influence throughout the world. He became a life member and Governor of the British and Foreign Bible Society and contributed £IOO towards its funds for the distribution of Holy Scriptures. He carefully observed Sunday as a day of rest, and although he was a keen sportsman, would not shoot nor allow others to shoot game on that day; and when he found that the provision of hot rolls each Sunday morning necessitated Sunday work for the bakers, he at once discontinued the luxury. On one occasion while | visiting the Emperor of Germany and I spending the Sunday with him at Kiel, | lie learned that a regatta had been arranged for his amusement, and the Meteor, the Emperor’s yacht, had been entered for a race. He politely but firmly declined to attend on the ground that Sunday was a day of rest. The Emperor was so struck with this refusal that he scratched his yacht from the race and both monarchs spent their Sunday quietly in the good old English way. The King, moreover, not only observed Sunday as a Day of Rest but as a Day of Worship, attending church regularly every Sabbath morning, taking care also that his attendants and guests should attend with him, and often he would walk to church instead of motoring there, so that the chail'eur might have a day off to attend church as well as himself. His attendance was no mere matter of form, for he I truly believed in God as the hearer and answerer of prayer. He publicly acknowledged this belief in the message to the nation after his illness, “The prayers of my people for my recovery were heard, and I now offer up my deepest gratitude to Divine Providence for having preserved my life and given me strength to fulfil h the important duties which devolve upon me as Sovereign of this great Empire.” And when, finally, he was called on to face death, the last enemy, he was thankful to be strengthened and refreshed in soul by partici- " pation in the sacrament of the Holy Communion, which was administered to him by the Archbishop shortly be fore he died. And thus resigning his spirit into the hands of God who gave it, he passed peacefully and quietly ' away. Now let his mortality remind us of our own. We may be called suddenly, unexpectedly, like he was. “What iB your life? It is even a vapour that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away.” Life passeth soon, death draweth near. The time is short. Prepare therefore to meet thy God. Soon we must de- n part, leave our possessions behind us J and give an account of ourselves face to face with our Creator. What will T it profit us if we gain the whole world “j and lose our soul and be cast away ? jJ Let us be serious, sober, earnest, and never rest until we have found salva- t 0 tion and know that it is well with our thi souls. The first thing needful is to flee to the Lord Jesus Christ and take Him as our Saviour and Friend. He an will welcome, pardon, cleanse and relieve us. He will give us grace truly Bi to repent us of our past sins, grace also to live a sober, righteous, and godly life, and when our time comes to walk through the valley of the Q r ' shadow of death we need feel no evil, for’ He will be with us to bring us p 0 safely through the gloom. He will | open the door of Heaven to us and Ra wipe away all tears from our eyes and am so we shall be for ever with the Lord. The hymn “Days and Moments” was then sung.

The Rev J. T. Gunn (Presbyterian) spoke as follows : —The last leaves of autumn are about to fall to the ground and die. The wind gathers them in heaps, scatters them upon the lawn, gathers them into the corners, scatters them along the dusty highway. The golden tints of autumn make us revel in the richness and splendour of Nature’s' furnishings, but the falling leaves fell as with sadness and sympathy. They are a parable of life. In spring the fresh strong buds open, filled with the promise of a great future. Summer arrives, when the sap rises to its full tide of strength and nothing seems impossible to the genius of man. But autumn comes and begins to debach as from life and by and bye we, like the leaves, are placed beneath the sod or covered by the cold, pure snow. The place that knew us knows us no more. A new king arises that knows not Joseph. Our neighbours speak of us for a day. The men that served with us in the great enterprise of life miss our presence. Our friends remember us a little longer but all her life a woman will keep our memory green until she too rests from her labours and all is hidden and forgotten. But there are some choice souls who escape this universal fate of the multitude, who defy this law of oblivion. Their leaf is not faded, their names cannot be forgotten. As the late lan McLaren (Dr. John Watson) goes on to say : “ Their achievements rise like Alps above the plane of human labour. Their services remain the permanent heritage of the race. One has opened the kingdom of letters with his poems. Another asked the deepest questions of the soul in his dialogues, a third discovered a new world and doubled our dwelling place; a fourth expounded the secret of the physical universe and set down the stars on a map, a fifth cleansed the corruption of the Church and restored her strength, and the Bixth, the greatest of all, showed unto the world righteousness and wrote the Ten Words on our conscience. The names of Homer and Socrates, of Columbus and Copernicus, of Luther and Moses can never be blotted from the pages of human history. In their life the sap of the race (lowered and bore fruit which has been gathered and stored for all generations. These mighties belong to no country or century, they are citizens of the world, their name and their fame shall be held in everlasting remembrance. Our late King, His Majesty Edward VII, whom we deeply mourn this day, has finished his appointed task. He rests from his labours. Shall his leaf wither ? Shall his name be lost in the oblivion of forgetfulness ?It will not. He, too, has joined the ranks of the immortals. He has earned his laurels, his illustrious name shall shine on the fair page of history. After we are gone to our Father his name shall be handed down to our children as Edward the Peacemaker, Edward the King of Peace. There are three great factors that must enter . into the life of every man or woman that would become enrolled upon the scroll of fame. These are: (1) A perception of the greatness of God. (2) A perception of the greatness of man. (3) A perception of the greatness of life’s opportunity. St. Augustine did all he could to develop this sense of the greatness of God. At night he stood under Hie clear lit canopy of heaven and looking up to those wondrous orbs of light, he would say : “Art Thou God?” The answer sounded in his boul, “ No, we are but the creation of God.” Looking up at the peerless moon, he exclaimed : “ Art thou God?” “No,” said the moon, “I am not God; I am created by God.” The more deeply we look into physical life, into the phenomena of Nature and into the causes that lie behind all effects, the more we see of the greatness of God. If we come to nature study with unbiassed mind open to receive truth from any and from every quarter, it cures our scepticism. Many have entered the Temple of God through the beautiful gate of Nature. The more carefully and comprehensively we study history and mark, especially at great epochs, the guiding hand of a Wise Providence controlling the destinies of our race, the more we are convinced of the greatness of God. This perception cures our flippancy and checks our irreverence. The sense of the greatness of God docs not jeem to have been con-

•picuous in the youth of our late King any more theu it 6 in the average youth, but a* he learned more of nature, more of men and history, as he assumed more and more the heavy responsibilities of State, in assisting to control and mould under God the lives not only of this great Empire but the lives of all mankind, there was increasingly manifest an ever deepening perception of the greatness . of God He ever had a tender regard for the religious susceptibilities of others. He was the last to offend the meanest subject in the matter of religious principles. To his dying day he was most punctilious in attendance <m publicrworship. It is Shakespeare who sayß : —What a piece of work is man. How noble in reason! how infinite in faculty! in form and moving how express and admirable 1 in action how like an angel! in apprehension how like a God ! Our departed King was greatly beloved because he possessed in so eminent a degree this splendid quality. He was ever courteous, he was ever kind, he spared no pains to make the most timid caller feel perfectly at ease in his presence. General Botha, recalling an interview whioh he had in company with Generals De La Ray and De Wet with the late King, said that they were all deeply impressed and left him with softer feelings, convinced that they could regard their future sovereign as a sincere friend. Hi 9 deep sympathy, his unfailing courtesy, his kindly thoughtfulness, his love of peace, show how he reverenced the greatness of man and sought while the breath was in his body to carry out the inspiring motto of his noble life, “ I serve.” Lastly he realised, too, the greatness of life’s opportunity. There are many things a King cannot do. He is hedged in on many sides. For example, he cannot be a partisan in politics. But what he could do he did with all his might. He sought, and sought assiduously and continuously, the happiness, the welfare and prosperity of the people in every part of his wide dominions. Even at the last, against the urgent advice of his physicians, he insisted in farewelling our future Governor and sending to this far away Dominion of ours in which he was deeply interested, his blessing and his benediction. His whole life and work was a shadow of that of the King of Kings, who, when He commenced His work said, “ I must be about my Father’s business,” and who when He laid down His task at the end of the day exclaimed, “It is finished.” Following in such footsteps, may we too in our time and generation be worthy to follow Jesus Christ and be enrolled in the deathless Army of the Deathless King. The hymn “Peace! Perfect Peace” was sung devotionally and the remaining portion of the burial service was rendered. The Rev B. J. James offered up a prayer in an earnest and eloquent manner and the hymn “ 0 God, Our Help ” was sung with devout feeling and expression. The Benediction was pronounced and the l service ended with all present singing t “ God Save the King.”