ARMISTICE DAY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 72, Issue 91, 17 April 1929, Page 10

ARMISTICE DAY

PR. LANG'S REFERENCE Preaching in St. Paul s Uathedr..! recently, I»r Cosmo Gordon Lang, Archbishop of Canterbury, made referent to Armistice Bay. ‘•lt is not in resolutions and societies and treaties that war is first to ie abolished, but in llie hidden man ol the heart/’ he said. “It is he vviiu must seek peace and ensue it—in his daily attitude towards his neighbour, in his daily thoughts, still more hG daily talk/ about his fellowmen o! other nations, in his restraint ot p.* judiees about them, in his retusai to think the worst, and his readiness to think the best, ox them. “And, just bemuse the ultima ic conquest ot war depends upon the conquest of the spirit, there nui.'i be ,mme motive, some power, strong enough, constant enough, to penetrate and possess this inner religion. Where is sum a motive, such a power, to be foun.«? “It is idle to trust that democtacy will of itself make the world sale. History rebukes the delu.-ion. If pass:ou is kindled, crowds only extend the range and fierceness of the lire. And are there not some who, in the very name of the people, not only do: end but proclaim tin* use of violence as an instrument of policy.’ “It, is idle to think that the Instincts of self-preservation and Hie memory of the horrors of war will sulfice, for memories are short ami passion sweeps self-interest, before it. Can we even trust to the restraint of treaty obligations? Fourteen years ago we learned how ambition and fear will break them. Truly, here we can net forget the things which our eyes nave seen. “No, for a spiritual contest only a spiritual force can avail. . .. .To ’.he Church, therefore, as to the nation, the message of this Day of Remembrance is spoken—‘Take heed to thyself. and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget.’ ’’