NEED OF KINDNESS

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21192, 15 August 1940, Page 9

NEED OF KINDNESS

JUSTICE IN BRITISH EMPIRE BISHOP CHERRINGTON’S VIEW The British Empire boasted of its sense of justice, said the Bishop of Waikato, the Rt. Rev. C. A. Cherrington, 8.A., 8.D., preaching at all Saints’ Church, Palmerston North, and people in the countries under its rule progressed and lived better than any other. The speaker ventured to suggest that people living under the British flag would prefer to be tried by British court than any other, should such a contingency arise. There had been built up the rendering of justice in the best possible way at present devised. And this British sense of justice had evolved as other things had done, although it was not always so. So far as it had been able to be brought about, British justice was good and the people responsible had been the Church.

The speaker went on to refer to the fact that it was largely the influence of the then Archbishop of Canterbury that had brought about Magna Charta, the foundation of British justice. Before that an Archbishop had given his life protesting against the tyranny of the Norman kings. We had a long way to go before there would be fairness and justice all round. Justice and Fairness He could not understand, for instance, his Lordship said, why a man who worked with his hands was only given a week’s notice to terminate his engagement, while a man who worked with his pen had to have a month and the clergy three months. Some people thought Governments could achieve justice for all, but his Lordship doubted it. Unless people were keen about justice and fairness, it would be a long time before we could get it and only people who were Christians could achieve this. To do justly was our duty to our neighbours; to be true and just in all our dealings, to be fair, honest and upright. To do justly and to love mercy had been the mark of the Christian Church. See that we as members show loving kindness and mercy to our fellow men, said the Bishop. Everybody knows that work of mercy and kindness in hospitals and by the Red Cross, akin to the Good Samaritan, had been stamped upon the world by Christians who were gradually winning the battle against the things of the heathen world. One of the great needs of the world now as always was kindness and more kindness, continued his Lordship.

Christians must look out for ways to help, to find excuses for other people, to forgive, pardon, overlook, even when badly hurt. Only thus could they “ walk humbly with God.”