PRESBYTERIANISM AND PEACE.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume L, Issue 12256, 2 July 1909, Page 7

PRESBYTERIANISM AND PEACE.

(Per Press Association.) NELSON, June 30. The following resolution was carried at a meeting of the Presbytery to-day: " That in view of the danger of collision between the British and German Empires, with all its calamitous consequences to civilisation, the Presbytery is in opinion that while it is our duty and privilege as a nation to do our utmost to preserve our interests by land and sea, and to defend at all hazards the heritage Providence entrusted to us, in the interests of the world it becomes us to maintain a calm, unvindictive, and Christian spirit; the Presbytery would call upon the people to be much in prayer that we and our brethren of the German Empire may continue to lead peaceable lives, and refrain on our part from any word or deed calculated to embitter" the relations between nations so closely allied in race, education, and religion; the Presbytery is of opinion that the Church, in conjunction with other branches of the great Presbyterian family scattered throughout the Empire, should at the earliest possible moment make representations on the above lines to the National Evangelic Kirk, to the Free Kirk, and the old Brethren Kirk of Germany, inviting them to join in united prayer and earnest effort that the warlike spirit may be restrained, a good understanding maintained, and the cost of armaments diminished; the Presbytery expresses a desire that the subject may be discussed by other Presbyteries between this and the meeting of the Supreme Court with a view to harmony at the Assembly."